Pirates Prep For VCU

Game 3: East Carolina (1-1-0) at VCU (2-0-0)
Date	Saturday, February 20
Time	2:00 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Richmond, Va. (Sports Backer Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Riding the high of an overtime win against a conference opponent, the ECU soccer team will try to make it two wins in a row as the Pirates head to VCU for a Saturday afternoon battle.

"VCU will be another great game for us to prepare for the rest of the conference," said head coach Jason Hamilton. "They will be organized and will compete physically. They are always a fun game to have because they bring a high level of toughness. We have to match the intensity we had last game in order to compete with them."

ECU (1-1-0, 1-0-0 AAC) took a hard-fought 1-0 win over Houston when Carsen Parker scored a 95-minute overtime winner off a corner kick from Morgan Dewey. It was the first win for the Pirates against Houston since 2015. With the 1-0 win over Houston, the Pirates have now allowed just one goal in 185 minutes of action and had a pair of players honored by the conference for their performances. Parker was named the AAC Defensive Player of the Week after playing all 185 minutes in the center of the ECU defense. Maeve English has started just two games in her collegiate career, but eight combined saves and her first clean sheet helped earn the Grenville, N.C., native the AAC Goalkeeper of the Week award.

"We need to get some players some minutes and experience who haven't seen the field yet, as well as move some people around to find out what our best group will be moving forward," added Hamilton.

Although English only has two games of experience in the goal, she has an experienced defense in front of her as the quartet of Parker, Dewey, AAC Preseason All-Conference selection Kim Sanford and Macey McDougal have started a combined 131 games for the Pirates and have played in a combined 181 collegiate games. That experience along with English's abilities in the goal have helped ECU limit opponents to just 9.5 shots per game and eight corner kicks.

VCU (2-0-0) opened the season with back-to-back shutouts, beating Liberty 2-0 and Old Dominion 4-0. Like the Pirates, the Rams had a pair of players earn conference awards last week. VCU's goalkeeper, Brecht Haakma was named the Atlantic-10 Defensive Player of the Week after recording two clean sheets and five saves. Samantha Jerabek was named both the Atlantic-10 Offensive Player of the Week and the Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Week after bagging four goals and an assist. The midfielder had a hand in both goals against Liberty, scoring a penalty kick and setting up another goal before bagging a hat trick in a 14-minute span against Old Dominion. Along with Jerabek, Aileen Guthrie and Lyndsey Gutzmer have each scored a goal while Emma Kershner has two assists so far.

ECU and VCU will matchup for the first time in over 10 years, with the last meeting coming in August 2010. VCU holds a 6-3-1 edge in the all-time series and is 4-0-1 at home against the Pirates. The last time the two teams met, they played to a 1-1 tie in Richmond.

"This is a good chance for some to prove some things to us," Hamilton finished. "After this game, it's all conference games with a lot on the line."

Kickoff for Saturday's match is scheduled for 2 p.m., in Sports Backers Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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Players Mentioned

Morgan Dewey

Maeve English

Carsen Parker

Kim Sanford

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