Pirates, George Washington Play To 1-1 Draw

September 8, 2013

GREENVILLE, N.C. – For the second time this season, 110 minutes of soccer could not decide a winner, as East Carolina played to a 1-1 tie against George Washington University on Sunday afternoon at the ECU Soccer Stadium.

The two sides battled through a scoreless first half, where George Washington (2-2-1) outshot ECU (2-2-2) by a 6-1 margin, but the Pirates’ defense and spectacular performance by junior goalkeeper Saundra Baron kept the Colonials off the scoreboard.

Baron’s vocal and physical presence became even more apparent as the second half progressed, where East Carolina applied enough pressure on the GWU defense in the early minutes of the second half to take the first lead of the game in the 53rd minute.

After the Pirates moved the ball and maintained possession deep in the Colonials’ territory, sophomore Kendall Freyfound herself in control of the ball on the right side of George Washington’s end line with her back turned to her defender. With approximately 10 yards of space between herself and GWU goalkeeper, Nicole Ulrick, Frey slipped past her defender, turned and ripped a shot to the near post that Ulrick got her hands on, but the ball rolled across the inside of the goal line to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Just over 14 minutes later, the Colonials’ Alex Neal collected a loose ball and rebound near the top of ECU’s goal box where she arched a shot over Baron, who could not recover from the previous activity in front of the goal, and into the back of the net to make the score 1-1.

Baron would make a handful of tough, acrobatic saves to keep several George Washington shots from getting between the pipes, and finished the afternoon with a season-high eight saves.

East Carolina owned a 4-3 edge in shots in the second half, but the game was undecided after 90 minutes of regulation time.

The Pirates could not capitalize on a pair of scoring opportunities in the first overtime period, but outshot the Colonials once again by a 2-1 clip over the 10-minute span.

George Washington forced ECU into a defensive mindset for the second 10-minute overtime period, taking four shots and challenging Baron with three shots on goal – all of which were smothered or turned aside by the Greensboro, N.C., native – before time ran out and the game concluded in a draw.

The Pirates will close out their four-game homestand on Friday, September 13 when they host Francis Marion at 7 p.m., at the ECU Soccer Stadium.