Sept. 27, 2009

Soccer Gameday Central

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina soccer team concludes its opening weekend of Conference USA action today hosting Houston for an 11:30 a.m. contest.

Friday against Rice, freshman Hali Oughton scored the game's only goal at the 80:39 mark to lift East Carolina to a 1-0 victory in the Conference USA opener for both teams. For the second consecutive contest, sophomore Amanda Malkiewicz tallied the assist on the game-winning goal off a pass from a corner kick.

The East Carolina defensive effort was led by junior goalkeeper Jen Kurowicki, who played the entire contest and earned her first ever shutout while making a career-best six saves. Kurowicki had not played in the Pirates' past three matches.

Pieces Of Eight
Facts To Know Before Gametime

The Pirates Against The Cougars ...
Against Houston, ECU has won all six meetings, outscoring the Cougars 11-2. The only two goals for UH came in the 2003 contest it lost 3-2.

Last year in Houston, the Pirates picked up a 1-0 victory. Blair Heffner tallied the game-winning goal for ECU with less than three minutes remaining in the contest. Jessica Cunningham had the assist and Campbell made five saves.

Opening Half Success ...
East Carolina has only outscored its opponents by one goal in the first half this season, 6-5. However, the Pirates have trailed just once after the opening period, a 1-0 deficit at Wake Forest Sept. 6. ECU is 1-0 when leading after one and 5-0-2 when tied after the first half.

Leaders In Conference USA ...
A look at the C-USA statistics, through Sept. 20 games, shows Pirate players tied for the conference lead in five categories. Junior Bailey Wilcox is in a tie with three players for most points at 11 and with two others for points per game at 1.38. She is also tied with Ashley Berra of Memphis for most goals (5) and goals per game (0.62). Malkiewicz is tied with seven players for the league lead in game-winning goals with two.

Home Cooking ...
Friday's victory moved the Pirates to 5-0-0 at home this season. Since the start of the 2007 season, ECU has gone 19-2-3 at Bunting Field. Last year, the Pirates lost at home to Coastal Carolina 2-1 and tied Colorado College 0-0 and Memphis 3-3. In 2007, ECU fell to Memphis 2-1 and tied UAB 0-0.

Four-Goal Games ...
East Carolina has recorded four goals in a game twice this season. The last time the Pirates had two contests scoring at least four goals during a season was 2006, when ECU defeated Campbell and Marshall by 5-0 scores. Not since 2000, when East Carolina beat James Madison 4-1, Florida International 4-0 and Elon 4-2, has the program had three games in a season scoring four goals or more.

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