Pirates Travel to South Florida Saturday

Game 15: East Carolina (7-7, 2-2 American) at South Florida (9-4, 4-0 American)
Date	Saturday, April 18
Time	12:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Tampa, Fla. (Corbett Stadium)
Media Coverage	Live Stats: StatBroadcast Stream: ESPN+
Game Notes	East Carolina
Social Media	Twitter: @e culax Instagram: @eculax

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina lacrosse team heads to South Florida for its penultimate American Conference tilt at 12 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.

Last Time Out
The Pirates erased a three-goal fourth quarter deficit, scoring five of the game's final six goals in a 14-13 win over High Point on Saturday. The team was led by five-point efforts by Jamie Collender, Sarah Goodison and Katelyn Sclafani. Collender notched four assists and a goal while Goodison and Sclafani each tallied four goals and an assist. Jaime Behar made five saves in goal for the win, including a massive stop with 1:55 remaining in the contest.

Scouting South Florida
The Bulls have been the class of the conference this year with a 9-4 overall mark and a 4-0 clip in league play. The team is in the top 10 nationally in shots and shots per game, as well as ground balls per game, and ranks in the top 25 nationally in draw control percentage and caused turnovers per game. Certainly a recipe for winning. As such, it's no surprise the team is receiving votes in the KANE Media Poll. Individually, the team is led by Sofia Chepenik's 49 points on 36 goals and 13 assists, pacing three players with over 40 points. Defensively, Maddie Morris' 16 caused turnovers are a team high while on the draw, Kali Cleary leads the group with 65. In cage, Natalie Eastwood has gotten all 13 starts, making 70 saves with a .395 save percentage.

Series History
The Pirates and Bulls met twice last season, both South Florida wins. The first meeting, in Greenville, was a romp, but the second meeting, coming in the American Conference Tournament, was a thriller. It wound up being a 14-12 margin but a bigger part of the story was that ECU erased an 8-3 deficit in the first quarter, later taking the lead briefly in the fourth quarter before the Bulls scored the game's final three goals. Erin Gulden starred for ECU in the game with five goals, earning All-Tournament Team honors in the process.

Record Watch
Kayla Wilkes is just two caused turnovers away from tying Emma Magazu's program single-season record (30).

Emma Magazu is just three ground balls away from Alexandra Giacolone's single-season record (46).

As a team, the Pirates are five assists away from the program record (92).

First Career Goal
Senior Taylor Padgett scored her first career goal in the win at High Point in what was her 17th career game played. It was a special moment for a player who has battled injury and hardship to see game action a career-high nine times this season.

In The Community
The program has made it a focus to strive not only for success on the field and in the classroom, but as representatives in the community. As a team, the Pirates logged 595.5 hours of community service in the fall.

Aspire
Assistant coach Kaelin Hogan graduated from the IWLCA's Aspire Program this spring. According to the organization, "The IWLCA Aspire program was designed to enhance coaches' professional skills, capabilities, and self-awareness through the dynamic blended learning approach."

At the Helm
The Pirates are entering year three under the leadership of head coach Brittany Dipper. Dipper has compiled an 18-29 record with a marked jump from her first to second seasons building anticipation for a successful 2026 campaign.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jaime Behar

Jamie Collender

Sarah Goodison

Erin Gulden

Emma Magazu

Taylor Padgett

Katelyn Sclafani

Kayla Wilkes

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