Pirates Welcome Campbell To Johnson Stadium

Match 4: Campbell (1-1-1) at East Carolina (2-2-0)
Date	Thursday, September 2
Time	7:05 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Johnson Stadium)
Coverage	Live Stats \| Live Video \| ECU Match Notes
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc Instagram: @ECUSoc Facebook: @ECUwsoccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Coming off a dramatic 2-1 win at High Point, the East Carolina soccer team will try to win consecutive matches for the first time this season as the Pirates host Campbell on Thursday night.

"I think our group is definitely happy to be back at Johnson Stadium and playing on grass," said Head Soccer Coach Jason Hamilton. "We are in the middle of a very tough stretch of games to prepare us for conference play and these next two games give us a chance to be at home."

ECU (2-2-0) started last week with an encouraging 3-1 loss to No. 10 South Carolina followed by taking a 2-1 win at High Point thanks to an 82nd minute goal by Maycie McDougal. Tori Riggs opened the scoring for the Pirates within five minutes of kickoff before High Point leveled the score thanks to an ECU own goal. ECU was on the front foot for much of the game, but it was not until the final 10 minutes that the pressure finally paid off when McDougal scored off a rebound from a Haley McWhirter shot.

With Riggs and McDougal scoring, ECU has had eight different players score the first eight goals of the season. The Pirates have shown their depth, as four goals have been scored by starters and four have been scored by players coming off the bench. Sierra Lowery and Samantha Moxie lead the Pirates with one goal and one assist each. ECU has used four different starting lineups so far and 17 players who have started at least one game, with just Maeve English, Kim Sanford and McWhirter starting all four games. English had 13 saves in the past two games last week, including a career-best nine stops against South Carolina. Those performances earned the Greenville, N.C., native a spot on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll, the first weekly honor of her sophomore campaign after being named AAC Goalkeeper of the Week three times during her freshman season.

Campbell (1-1-1) has bounced back from a 7-1 drubbing at Georgia to earn results in both of its games last week. The Camels tied NC State 1-1 before drubbing Mount St. Mary's 4-1. Elyssa Nowowieski led the way offensively, scoring against both the Wolfpack and the Mountaineers, earning her the Big South Co-Offensive Player of the Week award. Nowowieski is one of two Camels with multiple goals as Jessica Donald has a pair of goals (including the game-winning goal against Mount St. Mary's) and an assist to lead Campbell with five points. On the defensive end, the Camels are still looking for an answer in the goal. Reaghan Duval has played in all three games, making starts in the last two games and has a save percentage of .667. Delaney Baumbick leads the team with 290 minutes played on the backline.

"Campbell will be a very organized group that works extremely hard," Hamilton said. "This is a team that we have to be able to keep our focus for the entire match. Campbell will be a completely different challenge than the last game we played, so being able to execute our game plan is crucial."

Thursday's match will be the 17th meeting between ECU and Campbell, with the Pirates holding an 11-4-1 all-time record against the Camels. The last time the two programs battled was in 2018 with East Carolina taking a 2-0 win. Sanford scored the Pirates' second goal in that victory. ECU will also be looking to finish a clean sweep of the 2020-21 Big South Champions. The Pirates took that 2-1 win over the reigning regular season champion High Point and will now be looking to knock off the defending Big South Tournament Champion in Campbell.

"The big thing is we want to see as a team is to build off of last game," Hamilton added. "We created a lot of shots and were pretty sound defensively. That has to continue on Thursday in order for us to be successful."

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., inside Johnson Stadium and admission is free for all fans. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and fans can follow the live stats here.

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Players Mentioned

Maeve English

Sierra Lowery

Maycie McDougal

Haley McWhirter

Samantha Moxie

Tori Riggs

Kim Sanford

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