Berry, Spitler Goals Lift Pirates In 2-1 Victory At Towson

Sunday, August 21

Towson, MD

2:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

1-1-0

Towson

0-2-0

East Carolina

Towson

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

Berry, Spitler Goals Lift Pirates In 2-1 Victory At Towson

August 21, 2016 | Soccer

Box Score Box Score

TOWSON, Md. - Despite lightning strikes causing a two-hour and eight-minute delay to the start of the match, the East Carolina women's soccer team came away with its first win of the 2016 season in a 2-1 triumph at Towson on Sunday afternoon.

All three goals were scored in the second half, but East Carolina (1-1) never trailed in the match. Senior forward Lana Spitler led all players with four shots on goal and tallied her first goal of the year, while senior defender Autumn Berry notched the game-winning goal with under 13 minutes remaining in regulation. The victory was ECU's 199th in program history.

THE GOALS
47th Minute: After Berry struck the crossbar with a shot less than 30 seconds following the intermission, Spitler ripped her fourth shot on goal of the match just 70 seconds into the second half, but this one would sail into the top left corner of the net from approximately 20 yards out to put the Pirates ahead, 1-0.

65th Minute: Towson (0-2) drew even when Maddie Bove lofted a long cross into the box that found the head of Elizabeth Coletti, who redirected the ball past redshirt freshman goalkeeper Caroline Jeffers to tie the match, 1-1.

78th Minute: The Pirates reclaimed the lead when Berry sent a lining cross into the Tigers' goal box that appeared to clear through heavy traffic in front of the net, but goalkeeper Taylor Sebolao was obstructed to allow the ball to sneak past her and into the net to put the purple and gold back on top, 2-1.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
East Carolina put three shots on goal and took as many corner kicks in the first 20 minutes of the match, with two of the shots coming from Spitler and one by Berry.

At halftime, ECU owned a 6-2 lead in total shots, including a 4-0 advantage in shots on goal, while the Tigers held a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.

Overall, the Pirates outshot Towson, 13-7, overall and held an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal. The Tigers owned a 7-5 edge in corner kicks.

HEAD COACH ROB DONNENWIRTH QUOTE
"This was a good road win for us. Towson played tough, but we scored two nice goals. We still need to improve in some areas, but overall, the team played well."

PIRATE NOTES

Spitler's goal in the 47th minute was the 16th of her career, while the two points pushed her total to 41 as a Pirate.
Berry's score in the 78th minute was the third of her career and her second game-winner.

UP NEXT
East Carolina will stay on the road to take on Virginia Tech next Friday, Aug. 26 in Blacksburg, Va. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.