ECU Tops Marshall 2-1 On Senior Night

Pirates Clinch Spot In C-USA Championships With Win

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Seniors Leah Bagonis and Amanda Malkiewicz collaborated on the game-winning goal in the 58th minute that gave East Carolina (10-6-1, 5-5-0) a 2-1 win over Conference USA foe Marshall (4-12-3, 2-7-2) Thursday night at the ECU Soccer Stadium on what was designated as Senior Night. With the win, the Pirates clinch a spot in the 2011 C-USA Soccer Championships, which will be held in Memphis, Tenn. next week.

With the score knotted at one, Bagonis flipped a pass to Malkiewicz who dribbled down the left side of the field and made her way uncontested towards the goal sending a shot to the upper right corner for the game-winning shot at the 57:59 mark. For Malkiewicz it was her seventh goal of the season, sixth in league play and it marked the fourth-straight game with at least one score. Bagonis was credited with her team-leading seventh assist of the year.

The Pirates set an aggressive tone early posting eight of its 12 first half shots on goal. Junior Chrissy Gratz netted her first goal of the season in the 32nd minute staking the Pirates to a 1-0 advantage. Caty Butler sent a pass to inside the box where Gratz fired a shot from 15 yards out past Marshall keeper Lindsey Kerns.

Eight minutes later, Marshall’s Angela DeSumma tied the game at one on an unassisted goal at the 40:00 minute mark for her sixth goal of the season. On a miscommunication between Pirate defenders, DeSumma sent a shot from 35 yards out that sailed to the upper right corner of the net pass Pirate goalie Christiane Cordero.

Cordero picked up her 10th win of the 2011 campaign allowing on goal and recording four saves in 90 minutes of work. Her counterpart stopped 11 Pirate shots and allowed a pair of goals falling to 2-3-2.

The Pirates recorded a season-high 24 shots (10 on goal), while The Herd were limited to nine total, five on goal. Malkiewicz (5) and fellow senior (6) combined for 11 of ECU’s 24 shots, eight on goal, while DeSumma led The Herd with three shots, two of them on goal.

Following the Pirates win, their fourth-straight in league action, ECU honored eight seniors (Jessica Abshire, Bagonis, Kendall Booth, Cummings, Rachel Fuller, Malkiewicz, Stephanie Shaw and Amanda Windsor) for their contributions on and off the field.

ECU will close out the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 30 when they play host to UAB at 11 a.m. (ET) in a makeup game from Sept. 30 that was suspended due to adverse weather conditions in Greenville.

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