Pirates Return to League Play at Vanderbilt Saturday

Game 11: East Carolina (4-6, 1-1 American) at Vanderbilt (6-6, 2-0 American)
Date	Saturday, April 4
Time	1:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Nashville, Tenn. (Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex)
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 resumes American Conference play as they travel to Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. ET contest. The game will be available for streaming on ESPN+.

Last Time Out
The Pirates dropped a hard-fought game at Virginia Tech on Tuesday, 14-10. The team led the opening period but failed to score in a 4-0 second quarter which ultimately proved decisive. Kayla Wilkes was a bright spot in the game with four goals, one assist, three ground balls, three caused turnovers and three draw controls.

Scouting Vanderbilt
The Commodores enter the game at 6-6 and 2-0 in American Conference play after a dominant 16-7 win over Charlotte last Saturday. On the year, Vanderbilt is led offensively by Shea Panzik's 33 points on 17 goals and 16 assists, pacing four players with 20-or-more points. Defensively, Alex Gladding's 17 caused turnover leads four players with 10-or-more CTOs and has a team high 19 ground balls as well. Gabrielle Putnam leads the team on the draw with 71 draw controls. As a team, the Commodores rank near the top of the conference in most categories, including draw control percentage in which they rank 28th nationally at .571.

Series History
The Pirates and Commodores have met seven times since their first meeting in 2019, Vanderbilt holding a 5-2 edge. One of those two ECU wins came last season and what a thriller it was. It was a 14-13 decision which was decided by a buzzer beating goal in transition by Riley Matthiesen on a feed from Leah Bestany to end the game. The team finished the game on a 3-0 run in the final 2:45 of the game. Bestany was fantastic in that contest with four goals and the game-deciding assist.

League Leading Magazu
Emma Magazu leads the American Conference in ground balls per game with 3.20 per game.

Kayla Wilkes
Put up four goals, one assist, three draw controls, three caused turnovers and three ground balls against Virginia Tech. It was a unique stat line which she had never quite done in her career. It was her 11th career game with a hat trick and three draw controls, but the first of her career also adding three caused turnovers.

Wilkes is the third player in program history with a hat trick and 3+ each of draw controls, ground balls and caused turnovers (Ellie Bromley 2x; Nicole LeGar). She is the second with 4+ goals and 3+ draw controls, ground balls and caused turnovers (Bromley, 3/23/22; 4 G, 5 GB, 3 CTO, 5 DC).

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 15-28 record with a marked jump from her first to second seasons building anticipation for a successful 2026 campaign.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Leah Bestany

Emma Magazu

Riley Matthiesen

Kayla Wilkes

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