Parker's Overtime Goal Helps ECU Top Houston

Saturday, February 13

Greenville, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

1-1-0, 1-0-0

Houston

2-1-0, 0-1-0

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Houston	0	0	0	0
East Carolina	0	0	1	1

Photo by: Houston McCullough

February 13, 2021 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After battling for more than 90 minutes, Carsen Parker buried a corner kick from Morgan Dewey to lift the ECU soccer team to a 1-0 win over Houston on Saturday evening in Johnson Stadium.

"Could not be more proud of our group with the performance tonight," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "Coming off our game last week, we said that it would not define who we are, but how we responded to that loss which show what we are made of. Their response was fantastic and the effort was great to see."

ECU improves to 1-1-0 on the season and 1-0-0 in the AAC while Houston falls to 2-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in the league.

Coming into Saturday's game, the Pirates and Cougars had needed overtime to separate from each other in three of the previous four meetings and the last two. The majority of those results have gone Houston's way, with the Cougars unbeaten against ECU since 2015.

However, it did not take long into the first overtime for the Pirates to change the script. On ECU's eighth corner of the night, this one in the 96th minute, Dewey hit an in-swinging cross towards the back post and there was a mad scramble in the rain as players attacked the ball. Parker was able to get a foot on it and hit it into the roof of the net for the game-winning goal, sending the ECU players racing onto the field in celebration.

"We have had three overtime games with Houston in three years and unfortunately fallen on the wrong end the previous two meetings," Hamilton said. "It shows a great growth in our mindset as a team to not let that get to us going into the extra time."

Throughout the game, ECU had applied pressure from corner kicks, nearly scoring earlier in the game. The Pirates took one corner in the first half, but exploded for six in the second 45 minute period. ECU nearly got the opening goal in the 55th minute when Maycie McDougal took a shot off a Pirate corner, but her effort was saved by Houston's Salma Ghazal.

On the other end, the Pirates defense continued its strong early season form and have now allowed just one goal in 186 minutes of action. ECU limited Houston to four shots in the first half and five in the second stanza. The best chance for the Cougars came in the 89th minute when Mia Brascia got loose on the left side of the box and took a shot that was heading towards the far post. But ECU freshman goalkeeper Maeve English continued her impressive start to her collegiate career by diving to her left and palming the ball outside of the post for a Houston corner.

"We did another great job defensively as a unit, not allowing them too many opportunities and an awesome job on the attacking side of things, creating more chances than last week," added Hamilton.

ECU finished with a 13-12 advantage in shots and an 8-4 edge in corner kicks. English had five saves for the Pirates to earn her first victory as a Pirate.

The Pirates will have a week off before heading to VCU for a nonconference matchup. That game is slated for a 2 p.m., kickoff in Richmond on Saturday, Feb. 20.