Pirates Open Season At Old Dominion

Thursday, August 19

Norfolk, VA

7 P.M.

East Carolina University

Old Dominion

Photo by: Houston McCullough

August 18, 2021 | Soccer

Match 1: East Carolina (3-6-2 in 2020) at Old Dominion (4-5-2 in 2020)
Date	Thursday, August 19
Time	7:00 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Norfolk, Va. (ODU Soccer Complex)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Watch Live
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – After a pair of victories in exhibition matches, the East Carolina soccer team will open the regular season on Thursday night as the Pirates travel to Old Dominion.

East Carolina has gotten off to a flying start in its two exhibition matches, taking a 2-0 win at Longwood and a 3-0 home win over UNCW. Four different players scored goals in the two tune-up matches while three players had assists for the Pirates. Haley McWhirter had the biggest impact on the scoresheet, scoring both goals at Longwood and setting up the opening goal against UNCW. Samantha Moxie was the other rookie to score, scoring that opening tally against the Seahawks. Veterans Tori Riggs and Grace Doran also bagged goals in the second exhibition. Holly Schlagel picked up a pair of assists, setting up McWhirter and Riggs while Sierra Lowery also had an assist at Longwood.

On the defensive end, ECU has been inpenetrable so far. Returning AAC All-Rookie selection Maeve English has played nearly 122 minutes across the two games and has made seven saves while allowing zero goals. Maggie Leland relieved English in both games, making one save against UNCW while Meagan Haley saw action against Longwood, finishing with one stop. Defensively, Kim Sanford and Addison Salz have brought experience for the Pirates while Abby Sowa and Peyton Godbey each got one start on the backline.

Old Dominion finished the 2021 spring campaign with a 4-5-2 overall record and a 3-2-1 C-USA ledger, reaching the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Championship. The Monarchs return Ece Turkoglu, Emily Roberts and Ryan Parncutt from that squad, all of whom earned All-Conference USA Honors last season. Turkoglu was tied with fellow returners Megan Watts and Morgan Hall for the team-lead in goals, with all three finding the back of the net twice. Watts added an assist to hold the team lead with five points while Amanda Nhek led the Monarchs with two assists to go with one goal. For much of the year, Old Dominion's defense was ironclad, allowing just five goals in six conference games. However, the Monarchs did allow at least three goals on three different occasions, including in a 3-0 loss to Rice in the C-USA Quarterfinals.

Thursday's meeting will be the second time in six months that East Carolina opens a season in Norfolk. The Pirates traveled to Old Dominion in February to open the 2020-21 spring season and a goal from Emily Garrick in the 72nd minute helped the Monarchs take a 1-0 victory. It was the second straight win in the series for Old Dominion and dropped ECU's record to 8-12-2 all-time against the Monarchs. The Pirates have especially struggled in Norfolk, going just 2-8-1 there and have not gotten a road win in the series since 2015. Thursday's game will be the first of two meetings between the two schools this season, with Old Dominion coming to Johnson Stadium on Oct. 3.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., on Thursday night at ODU Soccer Complex. Fans can watch the match here or follow the live stats here.