Pirates Play To 1-1 Draw Against Houston

Sunday, October 16

Greenville, NC

1:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

4-9-1, 0-4-1AAC

Houston

6-4-3, 1-3-2AAC

OT 3

OT 4

Houston

East Carolina

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

October 16, 2016 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina women's soccer team earned its first point in the American Athletic Conference standings in a 1-1, double overtime draw against Houston on Sunday afternoon at Johnson Stadium.

The Pirates outshot the Cougars, 25-11, overall and 12-7 in shots on goal while owning a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks. Senior Lana Spitler matched a career-high with 12 shot attempts - five of which were on goal - and tallied her second assist of the season. Junior Annah Lindberg scored her second goal of the year and had four shots (three on goal) in 110 minutes of field time. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Caroline Jeffers made six saves and has made at least that many in three-straight games.

Houston (6-4-3, 1-3-2 AAC) goalkeeper Rachel Estopare made 11 saves to lead her club.

THE GOALS
32nd Minute: The Cougars used momentum off their only corner kick chance of the half with the ball in ECU's half of the field when Margo McEntire sent a low-lining cross across the box from the near side that found Vanessa Almaguer on the other side approximately 10 yards out when she volleyed a shot into the left side of the net to put Houston on top, 1-0.

49th Minute: The Pirates controlled the tempo in the opening minutes of the second half by earning pair of corner kick chances, as the second one by Spitler came from the near side of the field and found Lindberg on the opposide side of the box approximately seven yards out, where she headed home a shot into the left side of the net to tie the match, 1-1.

HEAD COACH ROB DONNENWIRTH QUOTE
"I thought we were really slow in the first half to be honest. Our second half was much better. They're a hard team to break down. They sort of drop their back line a bit and give you a lot of long-range shots that look enticing, but I felt like we settled too many times. We work a lot on set pieces. The goal was really just Annah getting after it. I thought we had a couple other chances on set pieces that we couldn't convert on, but I feel like we've been a little snake-bit around the goal lately, but I thought their keeper made some rgeat saves as well."

MATCH NOTES
-Sunday was ECU's first overtime match of the 2016 season. The Pirates played five such games in 2015 and had a 2-1-2 record in those contests.
-The Pirates' 25 shots and 12 shots on goals marked season-highs, respectively.
-East Carolina's 25 shots were also the most in a single game since taking 28 attempts at Charlotte on Sept. 13, 2015.
-ECU's 12 shots on goal marked the third time this season it's reached double-figures in that category this season.

UP NEXT
East Carolina (4-9-1, 0-4-1 AAC) will begin its final road trip of the season when it travels to Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Oct. 20 to take on USF. Kickoff is sceduled for 7 p.m., at Corbett Stadium.