Aug. 29, 2009

Gameday Central

GREENVILLE, N.C. - After opening the season with a 2-1 victory at home over Virginia Commonwealth last Friday, the East Carolina soccer team travels to Boiling Springs, N.C., to take on Gardner-Webb Sunday at 2 p.m.

The game against the Runnin' Bulldogs will be just the second meeting between the two programs. Last season in Greenville, the Pirates downed Gardner-Webb 2-0 as Amanda Malkiewicz scored just 6:22 into the contest and Jessica Cunningham added the insurance goal at 26:40.

In the opener against VCU last Friday, Rams' forward Jasmine Riley scored the game's first goal at 49:30. ECU freshman Rachel Wechsler netted the tying goal at the 55:20 mark and then assisted on Jessica Swanson's game-winning goal at 60:47. The triumph marked the third straight year in which the Pirates won their first game of the season.

Gardner-Webb will be playing its third game of the season Sunday. The Bulldogs fell at Western Carolina 1-0 and at No. 14 Duke 3-0. The team was scheduled to play at USC Upstate Friday night, but the contest was postponed due to inclement weather.

Following Sunday's contest, the Pirates return home on Friday, Sept. 4, to take on Stony Brook at 4 p.m. In the series with the Seawolves, neither team has recorded a victory as the 1998 game ended in a 1-1 tie and the 2007 contest was a 0-0 deadlock.

Pieces of Eight
Facts to Know Before Gametime ...

Making The Goalie Work ...
In last Friday's 2-1 victory over Virginia Commonwealth, the Pirates had nine shots on goal, the most since their Oct. 10, 2008, contest against Tulsa when they also had nine.

Breaking Even ...
With the 2-1 victory over VCU, ECU's program record is now at .500 for just the second time, at 131-131-30.

The only other time the soccer program was at .500 was before last season's Conference USA Championship Game, which East Carolina lost to Memphis 4-1. A win Sunday over Gardner-Webb would put the Pirates above .500 for the first time ever.

Winning The Opener ...
The triumph over VCU marked the third straight year in which the Pirates won their first game of the season.

The last season-opening defeat for East Carolina was in 2006, when the team fell 1-0 in overtime at Old Dominion.

Swanson's Key Goals ...
Senior tri-captain Jessica Swanson tallied the game-winning goal against VCU, giving her a team-best five game-deciding goals in her career. Swanson has two more game winners than junior Amanda Broz and sophomore Malkiewicz.

A Shining Debut ...
East Carolina freshman midfielder Rachel Wechsler tallied three points in her first ECU game, against Virginia Commonwealth. The Paramus, N.J., native scored the game-tying goal at the 55:20 mark when she collected a rebound off a Malkiewicz shot and sent it past VCU keeper Kate Hudson. Wechsler then had the assist on Swanson's game-winning goal 5:27 later.

Malkiewicz was the last rookie to collect three points in a game as she did it twice last year, in her fifth and seventh contests as a Pirate.

A Winning Debut ...
Wechsler was not the only first-year player to have an impact on the outcome against VCU as freshman goalkeeper Berit Hansen came in at the start of the second half and recorded the victory, making two saves and allowing one goal.

Not since Lauren Church defeated High Point 3-1 in 2002 had a Pirate goalie recorded a win in her first career appearance.

Going For 100 ...
Head coach Rob Donnenwirth is going for win No. 100 with East Carolina on Sunday against Gardner-Webb. Donnenwirth is the winningest head coach in Pirate history, with 99 victories, 69 more than Neil Roberts, who led the program from 1995-98.

One Young Unit ...
Against VCU, East Carolina's starting line-up featured just one senior, Swanson, four juniors, three sophomores, one redshirt freshman and two true freshmen. Even ECU's substitutes were young, as three sophomores and three freshmen were the only reserves to enter the contest.

In contrast to the Pirates' youth, Rice started six seniors and four juniors while Southern Miss started five seniors and two juniors in their season openers.

The only other team to start just one senior was Memphis, and SMU was the only program to have five or fewer upperclassmen in the starting line-up.

Two Is The Magic Number ...
Since the start of the 2006 season, ECU has posted a 26-0-2 record when scoring two or more goals. The only two ties came last season in a 2-2 draw at UAB on Oct. 24 and the following game's 3-3 deadlock at home against regular-season co-champion Memphis on Oct. 26.

Tough To Beat In OT ...
Since the start of the 2007 season, the Pirates have gone 5-1-9 in games that have gone into overtime or double-overtime. The only loss occurred at UCF on Oct. 7, 2007, when Yvonne George scored with 58 seconds remaining in the second OT. In 2008, East Carolina went 4-0-4 in games that went extra time.

Printer-friendly format	Email this article