Pirates Take on Three Seed South Carolina in NCAA Round of 64

Game Twenty-One: East Carolina (10-3-7, 5-2-3 AAC) at #3 South Carolina (10-3-7, 5-2-3 SEC)
Date	Friday, November 15
Time	6 p.m. (ET)
Location	Columbia, S.C. (Stone Stadium)
Tickets	Purchase Here
Coverage	Live Stats: Live Stats \| Video: ESPN+
Game Notes	East Carolina
Fact Book	2024 ECU Soccer Fact Book
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUsoc \| Instagram: @ECUSoc \| Facebook: ECU Soccer

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina soccer team will hit the road for an NCAA Tournament Round of 64 date with the third-seeded No. 14/18 South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday evening at 6 p.m. in Stone Stadium. Tickets are available now and for those unable to attend the game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.

Last Time Out
Annabelle Abbott scored the Golden Goal in the 107th minute to stun No. 19 Memphis and deliver the Pirates their first ever conference tournament trophy and first ever NCAA Tournament berth. Maeve English was magnificent in goal once more with five saves in the contest including a pair of highlight reel stops in the second half and overtime. With the result, the Pirates went to double-overtime or longer in all three games in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

Scouting South Carolina
The Gamecocks enter the NCAA Tournament with a 10-3-7 record, including a trio of ranked wins highlighted by a shocking upset of No. 2 Mississippi State, 3-0, in the SEC Semifinal. The team is led on the year by Catherine Barry's 16 goals and seven assists for 39 points, 18 clear of the rest of her teammates. Katie Shea Collins does rank second on the team with a still-impressive nine goals for the Gamecocks' potent offense. Christina Tsaousis has gotten most of the run in goal this season with 70 saves and a .787 save percentage. The Gamecocks are coached by Shelley Smith who has been at the helm for all eight prior meetings between the two schools.

Series History
The Pirates and Gamecocks have played eight times over the years with an 8-0-0 edge for South Carolina. In five of those previous meetings, the Gamecocks entered the games ranked nationally including the team's 2022 meeting in Columbia in which No. 12 South Carolina defeated ECU, 2-0, during Gary Higgins' first season in Greenville.

Golden
Annabelle Abbott, who had not scored a goal this season and only had six goals to her name previously, made no mistake about it with her Golden Goal against Memphis, a score coach Gary Higgins called "Probably the most important goal in program history."

Joining the Club
The Pirates are one of four teams making their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2024 along with: California Baptist, Southern and USC Upstate.

Ranked Win
The win over No. 19 Memphis in the title game matched the highest ranked win in program history (2022 at SMU, 2-1)

Records Broken
Annabelle Abbott and Maeve English have both broken the program record for career appearances now with 87, besting Kim Sanford's 84 from 2017-2021. English has also passed Amber Campbell for the most career goalkeeper minutes in program history now standing at 7,995. The previous record was 7,690.

Keep Clean
With her shutout against Memphis, English now has 30 for her career, tying Amber Campbell's ECU career record. It was also her ninth of the season, tied for third in program history - the record is currently 10 which has been done twice before.

Iron Woman
Abby Sowa has played in every game and not come off for a second since Oct. 17, 2021, playing 5,568 straight minutes. That's two full seasons and 61 full games.

Pirates Take on Three Seed South Carolina in NCAA Round of 64

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Players Mentioned

Annabelle Abbott

Maeve English

Abby Sowa

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