East Carolina Falls to UNC Wilmington

September 6, 2013

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Despite two second-half goals, the East Carolina women’s soccer team suffered a 3-2 loss to UNC Wilmington on Friday evening at the ECU Soccer Stadium.

The two sides remained scoreless for the first 38 minutes of the contest, until the Seahawks’ Maddie McCormick collected a rebound in front of the Pirates’ net where she finished a shot into the left corner of the net to give UNCW (1-4) a 1-0 advantage it would take to the locker rooms at halftime.

The Seahawks applied a ton of pressure in the first half, outshooting ECU by a 7-4 margin and owned a 4-1 advantage in corner kick opportunities.

East Carolina (2-2-1) stormed back in the second half however, scoring two goals that occurred just four minutes apart and within the period’s first 12 minutes.

Freshman forward Lana Spitler tied the game 1-1 with her first-career goal in the 53rd minute, after defender and classmate Autumn Berry hit a perfect through-pass up the left sideline that Spitler gathered, dribbled and sprinted past the Seahawks’ left back, before burying a shot into the right corner of the net and past a diving UNCW goalkeeper in Liisa Rahkola.

Newcomer and midfielder Jenna Geist gave the Pirates their first and only lead of the game on her first-career tally in the 57th minute, when she hammered home a loose ball and rebound in front of Wilmington’s net to put ECU ahead, 2-1.

UNCW wasted little time responding, as Nicole Costa scored on a one-touch shot on an end-line pass from Katrina Guillou with just 28 minutes remaining in the game. The Seahawks went ahead for good just two minutes and 54 seconds later when Stephanie Bronson obtained possession, turned and fired a shot from the top right corner of the Pirates’ goal box and into the left pocket of the goal to put UNCW ahead for good, 3-2.

East Carolina goalkeeper Saundra Baron made seven saves on the evening – the most in a single game this season.

The Pirates will return to the field Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., when they host George Washington University at the ECU Soccer Stadium.