Pirates Drop High-Scoring Marathon to San Diego State, 17-16

Monday, March 10

San Diego, CA

10:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

1-3

San Diego State

5-3

ECU

San Diego State

Photo by: Jeffrey Camarati

Pirates Drop High-Scoring Marathon to San Diego State, 17-16

March 11, 2025 | Lacrosse

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The East Carolina lacrosse team dropped a barnburner to San Diego State, 17-16, on Monday night in Snapdragon Stadium. The high-scoring affair was anyone's until the finish with the decisive goal coming in the final minute.

A spell of torpor opened the contest for a Pirates (1-3) squad fresh from a transcontinental journey, Atlantic coast to Pacific coast to compete for the first time for the yet nascent program in the Golden State. Only once the Aztecs (5-3) had accumulated their 4-1 lead did it then become time for ECU to be the side asking the questions of the hosts.

Three times in the first half the Pirates drew close enough to feel it, edging within a single goal at 4-3, then again at 6-5, last once more at 8-7. Two goals apiece by Emily Stratton and Kayla Wilkes highlighted the game's beginning half hour. Of the Aztecs, it was Sara Toner getting the better of Jaime Behar on three occasions in the first half for her early hat trick.

San Diego State struck early, a body blow to return the contest to a three-score lead in the third quarter. A knockout punch it was not, however, and East Carolina swiftly delivered a pair of their own goals for, once more, a one-goal contest. Those two goals, coincidentally, both involved both Leah Bestany and Riley Matthiesen. Bestany tallied first on a Matthiesen feed before returning the favor for the sophomore's goal.

The game tracked much the same for the remainder of the quarter with the Aztecs finding marginal breathing room only for the Pirates to again squeeze the margin to but that single goal. That was, until a critical moment just before the quarter expired when San Diego State squelched a Pirates free position attempt at one end which would have tied the game before scoring a goal of their own on the other side for a two-goal lead entering the fourth.

Tatum Neach scored two of her game-high four goals in that third quarter.

As the contest leaked into the fourth quarter, Matthiesen became the first Pirate to nab a hat trick with her third goal to draw within one before Emily Stratton beat Caitlin Boughton low to tie the game with 11:50 to play. It was the first time the game was tied since it was 1-1 in the first.

In a funny bit of sequencing, Rachel Chessock then scored her third of the game with 11:07 to play to give the Pirates their first lead of the game, drawing a San Diego State timeout.

It was not a lead meant to be kept for long, the Aztecs restoring their lead then extending it with a 3-0 run of their own, forcing the Pirates to come back yet again. Kayla Wilkes became the fourth Pirate with a hat trick on her tying goal with 2:14 remaining in the game.

ECU looked briefly to have secured the massively critical draw control after Wilkes' score but it eventually wound up with San Diego State who got the game-winning goal from the stick of Frankie Garcia with 45 seconds remaining.

In goal, Behar finished the game with a career-high 13 saves, playing the full 60 minutes. Also worthy of a mention, Bestany, in addition to her two goals, also notched a career high with four assists in the game.

Up Next
The Pirates remain in San Diego to take on UC Davis at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.