July 14, 2008

2008 Soccer Schedule in PDF format

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Five contests against 2007 NCAA Tournament participants, as well as the usual gauntlet of Conference USA contests, await the 2008 East Carolina soccer team as its schedule was released by 10th-year head coach Rob Donnenwirth on Monday.

South Carolina, Hofstra, Penn, UCF and Memphis played in the postseason a year ago while 14 of the Pirates' 19 opponents ended last season with winning records.

"This will be a challenging schedule for our team, Donnenwirth explained. "Twelve of the 19 regular season games will be against teams with a top 100 RPI."

ECU kicks off its campaign against Western Carolina on Aug. 22 at Bunting Field, the first of nine home games for the team. From there, the Pirates hit the road for five straight contests before returning to Bunting Field on Sept. 18 against Gardner-Webb.

The quest for the program's first-ever C-USA championship begins Sept. 26 at Rice. The Pirates play three more road games at Houston, Southern Miss and UCF to open conference play but will finish the regular season with six of seven contests at home, beginning with Tulsa on Oct. 10. Additionally, East Carolina looks to qualify for the conference tournament for the fifth consecutive season. The 2008 edition of the championship takes place Nov. 5-10 with Rice slated as the host.