Pirates Host Cincinnati To Cap Regular Season

Game 15: Cincinnati (6-8, 2-6 AAC) at East Carolina (3-11, 1-7 AAC)
Date	Friday, April 23
Time	3 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Johnson Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video
Social Media	Twitter: @eculax Instagram: @eculax Facebook: ECU Lacrosse

Game 16: Cincinnati (6-8, 2-6 AAC) at East Carolina (3-11, 1-7 AAC)
Date	Sunday, April 25
Time	12 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Johnson Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video
Social Media	Twitter: @eculax Instagram: @eculax Facebook: ECU Lacrosse

GREENVILLE, N.C. – A playoff spot is on the line as the East Carolina lacrosse team hosts Cincinnati in the final regular season weekend.

ECU (3-11, 1-7) is looking to snap a seven-game losing streak, six of which came against the top-three teams in the AAC. Ashley Vernon has been one of the top goalkeepers in the country this season. The sophomore netminder has 122 saves this year, ranking her seventh in the country. In conference games, Vernon has been even better, increasing her saves per game to 8.88 which is tied for the lead in the AAC. In front of Vernon, four different Pirates have caused at least ten turnovers. Liz Blumthal and Alexandra Giacolone are tied for the team lead with 14 caused turnovers each, while also adding 24 and 22 ground balls respectively. Cece Bartley has 13 caused turnovers of her own, while Nicole LeGar has forced 11. Carli Johnston has finished the season strong as well, causing five turnovers in her past two games.

On the offensive end, Megan Pallozzi became the first Pirate to score 30 goals in a season and now has 31 goals and six assists this year. She continues to be one of the country's deadliest shooters from the eight-meter arc, ranking in the top-50 with a shooting percentage of .588. Right behind her is Frances Kimel who has 23 goals and nine assists, including six goals in her last three games. Kimel's free-position shooting percentage of .571 is second to only Pallozzi in the AAC. Megan Tryniski is tied with Kimel with 32 points despite missing a pair of games. Tryniski leads ECU with 13 assists while adding 19 goals. The other Pirate with at least 25 points is LeGar, who has 19 goals and nine assists.

Sunday will be senior day for 14 ECU players, all of whom have been around since the program's inaugural season. As a group, they will have racked up 327 goals, 110 assists, 323 draw controls, 506 ground balls, 224 caused turnovers and 234 saves and have led ECU to the first win in program history as well as the first AAC victory. Pallozzi, LeGar, Ally Stanton, Brittany Borchers and Christina White have all earned AAC Weekly Honors during their careers, while Pallozzi, LeGar, Stanton and Liz Blumthal have been named to All-Conference teams.

Cincinnati (6-8, 2-6 AAC) started the conference slate with six straight losses, but a pair of wins over Old Dominion has the Bearcats one win away from clinching a spot in the American Championship. Cincinnati outscored the Monarchs 33-13 in the two wins, led by Monia Borzillo and Sam Mlkvy who combined for 19 goals and 10 assists. Borzillo leads the Bearcats with 30 goals and 23 assists for 53 points while Alyssa Adams has racked up a team-high 34 goals. As a team, Cincinnati is seventh in the nation in ground balls per game and 19th in caused turnovers per game. Morgan Dukes is a big part of those ground balls, ranking eighth in the NCAA with 3.58 ground balls per game and having scooped up a total 43 ground balls this season. The caused turnovers have been a team effort, with eight different players having between 10 and 15 caused turnovers this season. In the goal, Kate Brocato has played the majority of the minutes, making 86 saves this year while Gianna Pope has also made appearances in ten games.

The games this weekend will be the third and fourth meeting between ECU and Cincinnati, with the Bearcats winning each of the first two. Cincinnati won 16-7 in Ohio during the 2018 season and then won 14-5 in 2019, which was the first meeting between the two schools in AAC conference play.

The final spot in the AAC Championship will come down to either East Carolina or Cincinnati. With one win in the two games, Cincinnati will clinch the fourth and final spot in the league's postseason tournament. With a weekend sweep, the Pirates would jump the Bearcats and take on No. 1 seed and host Florida in the AAC Championship semifinals. Vanderbilt and Temple have also clinched spots in the postseason.

Friday's game will get started at 3 p.m., and will be broadcast on ECUPirates.com. The two teams will meet again at 12 noon on Sunday and that contest will be broadcast on ESPN+. Following Sunday's game, the Pirates will hold a Senior Day ceremony for the team's 14 seniors.

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Players Mentioned

Cece Bartley

Liz Blumthal

Brittany Borchers

Alexandra Giacolone

Carli Johnston

Frances Kimel

Nicole LeGar

Megan Pallozzi

Ally Stanton

Megan Tryniski

Ashley Vernon

Christina White

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