No Time Like the Present for ECU

Women Can Make Big Push for Conference-USA Seeding

Men's Preseason Wrap | Women's Preseason Wrap

WEEKLY NOTEBOOKS

By Ron Cherubini
©2003 Bonesville.net

 It comes down to this weekend, really, if the ECU women want to position themselves well for the Conference-USA tournament. With games on the road against Louisville and Cincinnati, the Pirates see themselves with an opportunity to really move up the tight league ladder.

Coming off a very disappointing loss to Marquette, ECU can ill-afford not to collect a pair of wins this weekend.

“Critical games,” coach Rob Donnenwirth said of the weekend two-set. “I feel we need to win two, or possibly three, of our last three games. The team is still showing confidence and are preparing well.”

The 1-0 loss to Marquette may be just the gut punch this team needed to help refocus what is a truly talented Pirate squad, though at 6-5-5 and 2-2-3 in the league it does not seem all that impressive.

“The team is frustrated that our record isn't indicative of the effort and level that we are playing at,” Donnenwirth said. “I am impressed that they don't seem rattled.”

In Louisville, the Pirates face a team that has just one league victory and in Cincinnati, they face a very disappointed club which – instead of competing for the league title as many predicted – finds itself with just a pair of league victories.

Still, both teams bring talent and a challenge to an ECU team looking to prove it is capable of winning the league tournament. And the Pirates do believe they can.

“Yes,” Donnenwirth said when asked if they could win the tourney. “No team has walked over us. We feel we have had the better of the play in most games.”

The Pirates now must see if they can put some substance to those words.

Men Hoping to finish the season on an up note

The Pirates know that their chances of making the tournament are done. But, from a program perspective, coach Michael Benn is hoping that his team will lick its wounds and finish the season hard.

In getting lambasted by the Marquette Golden Eagles 5-0, the Pirates for the first time this season were manhandled. The worry is that the team is giving up.

"We were bad against Marquette," Benn said. "The coaching staff has been discussing it and we are not sure what happened to us. Certainly, Marquette is a very good team but they are not five goals better than us."

Frustrated for sure, but the team has been competitive this season. The test of the team's mettle will be if they can regroup and battle respectfully for the remainder of the season, starting with a game against South Florida and then against Cincinnati.

The games are pivotal in spelling out how the Pirates plan to start building for next season.

"Every season will have high and low points," Benn said. "Marquette was our worst performance of the season but as I told the team, one game does not define who we are or what we are about. We are going through a rough stretch right now, but this is when you can see who has character and is tough. My guys are tough and we will keep fighting. One game does not change how we feel about our progress or our players."

WEEKLY NOTEBOOKS

East Carolina Men

THIS WEEK’S SLATE:

Friday, October 24: South Florida (4-6-2, 1-3-1 C-USA) at ECU, 3:30 p.m.

LAST WEEK:

Marquette 5, ECU 0

On the road at Marquette, the Pirates ran into a buzzsaw. The Golden Eagles absolutely pounded ECU, blasting the visiting Pirates 5-0, handing ECU its only blowout loss this season.

The bulk of the scoring was from junior forward Chris Lee, who tallied a hat trick for Marquette (7-6-1, 4-1-1 C-USA).

I think giving up the first goal just 37 seconds into the game really deflated us. We were scrambling from that point on and just could not get out of our funk.  We had as much to do with this defeat as Marquette did.  We have watched the video as a team and hopefully have learned some lessons from that match.

COACH BENN SAYS:

“We have to bring a professional attitude. We have always been about getting better every day and that can not change. There is still a lot to play for this year.  A winning record is still attainable. We have a chance to play the spoiler role against some of our C-USA opponents.  We were picked to finish last in the preseason- we can still show the other coaches that they were wrong in their assessment of our program.”

LOOKING AHEAD:

South Florida at ECU

On Friday, the Pirates host a South Florida team that is looking to position themselves for a tourney bid. 

The Bulls have a pair of wins and present a solid opportunity for the Pirates to get a much-needed victory. South Florida brings in two of the league's top young scorers in Hunter West and Drew Helm.

"South Florida is a very talented team that is on the verge of going on a streak," Benn said. "They have some very good attacking players that can break a team down so we need to defend well both individually and collectively. They are going to be very aggressive and come in trying to pick up an important three points."

Cincinnati at ECU

On Sunday, the Pirates host a strong Cincinnati team, vying for a top-tourney seeding. The Bearcats are playing as well as any team in the country and will present a very difficult challenge for the Pirates.

Wiremu Patrick and Josh Gardner lead a formidable attack that will push the ECU defense.

"Cincinnati may be the best team in the conference this year," Benn said. "They are defending very well which puts them in a position to win every game. They are very well coached and are attempting to finish in the top-2 so they receive a bye in the first round of the C-USA tourney. They have dynamic attacking players up top and out wide. This will be a big challenge for us with having played South Florida just two days before. I am confident that our boys will step up to the challenge and it should be one heck of a game."

NEWS & NOTES:

David Broyles returns to the lineup for ECU after having to sit out the Louisville game for card accumulation in previous contests…Standout Pirates attacker Matt Kowaleski is expected to return to the lineup this weekend after sitting out with an injury…Cincinnati, this week, became the third C-USA team to crack the nations' soccer polls. The Bearcats debuted at No. 21 in the NSCAA poll, joining league brethrens Saint Louis (No. 5) and Alabama-Birmingham (No. 23)...Saint Louis snatched up all the league honors for the week as freshman midfielder Will John was named Offensive Player of the Week for his two game-winning goals and senior defender Nick Gannon garnered Defensive Player of the Week for leading a depleted Billikens backline in allowing just 12 total shots on goal for the week...Cincinnati is the league's hottest team, posting a 6-0-1 mark since September 11...Saint Louis is 8-0-0 in one goal games as opposed to ECU, which is 0-6-0 in 1-goal games...Cincy keeper John Adams ranks 20th in the nation in Goals Against Average at 0.66, making him tops in the league...C-USA is 33-23-9 out of league...Louisville's Simon Bird moved to 5th on the school's all-time goals list this week. He now has 23 tallies on his career and is just 2 back for the fourth spot all-time...

THE TALLY SHEET:

The following table lists the leading scorers in 2003 for Conference-USA through Saturday, October 18:

Player

Team

Goals

Assists

Total Points

BIRD, Simon	Louisville	10	3	23
LEE, Chris	Marquette	10	1	21
IBISEVIC, Vedad	Saint Louis	8	3	19
METCALF, Andy	Memphis	8	2	18
JOHN, Will	Saint Louis	6	5	17
GARDNER, Josh	Cincinnati	5	4	14
KOHLMEYER, Blair	Marquette	6	2	14
O’BRIEN, Dayton	Memphis	6	2	14
WEST, Hunter	South Florida	7	0	14
LEWIS, Justin	Cincinnati	6	1	13
DiRAIMONDO, John	Saint Louis	3	6	12
FRANKS, Floyd	Charlotte	4	4	12
KOWALESKI, Matt	East Carolina	5	2	12
MUPIER, Mira	Charlotte	5	2	12
JARUN, Omar	Memphis	5	1	11
MONTEIRO, Jerson	UAB	4	3	11
PATRICK, Wiremu	Cincinnati	4	3	11
ROJO, Luke	DePaul	4	3	11
PUSEK, Marin	UAB	3	4	10
ARREOLA, Edwin	DePaul	4	1	9
De OLIVEIRA, Leandro	UAB	3	3	9
BLOUIN, Matt	Marquette	4	0	8
HELM, Drew	South Florida	2	4	8
OLIVEIRA, Rogerio	UAB	3	2	8
TERMINESI, Marco	Louisville	2	4	8

East Carolina Women

THIS WEEK'S SLATE:

Friday, October 24, 2003: ECU at Louisville (6-7-2, 1-5-1 C-USA), 7 p.m.

Sunday, October 26, 2003: ECU at Cincinnati (6-10-0, 2-5-0 C-USA), 1 p.m.

LAST WEEK:

ECU 2, Miami 2 (2OT)

On Friday, ECU was able to shut down Miami (8-6-1) over the final 65 minutes of play en route to securing a hard-fought 2-2 double-overtime draw.

The Pirates got tallies from sophomores Melissa Penney and Meghan McCallion while goaltender Lindsi Troxler turned in a great performance in hosting the Hurricanes at Bunting Field.

After falling behind 1-0, the Pirates responded with a pair of second-half goals. The first came on a set play falling a Miami foul. Penney took the direct kick and buried it over the head of the Hurricanes keeper. The blast was from 30 yards out.

McCallion tallied her 10^th goal of the season in the 66^th minute when she and Rachel Hils hooked up. Hils lofted a long shot on goal which Miami keeper Alex Alford could not gather and McCallion was there to collect and bury the ball on goal.

“We started slow and gave away a bad goal about 20 minutes into the game,” Donnenwirth said. “We had opportunities to clear the ball from danger but failed to do so twice. We came on strong in the second half and scored two goals. The first was Melissa Penney "bomb" from 35 yards. We had three great chances to make it 3-1 but didn't convert. Miami is a solid team and they scored with about 8 minutes remaining to tie it.”

Marquette 1, ECU 0

On Sunday, ECU dropped a critical C-USA game to Marquette (9-6-1, 6-2-0 C-USA) at Valley Fields in Milwaukee, WI. The game-winner came in the 31^st minute of an otherwise evenly-contested game when senior midfielder Anne Ioder found the net from eight yards out.

The Pirates, who equaled Marquette’s 7 shots on frame in the game, had a number of chances, but failed to finish on any of the occasions.

“(Marquette is) probably the best conference team we have faced so far,” Donnenwirth assessed. “We had the wind in the first half and out-shot them 6-3. Unfortunately we were down 1-0 do to a goalkeeper error. I feel we had the better chances in the game but once again we didn't score.”

COACH DONNENWIRTH SAYS:

“I feel we are playing well. We need to ‘keep the faith’ that time won't run out before we get our finishing shoes back on.”

LOOKING AHEAD:

ECU at Louisville

On Friday, the Pirates travel to Kentucky to take on a struggling Louisville squad. The woes are mostly do to a rash of injuries, particularly hitting the backline hard. Unfortunately for the Pirates, Louisville does get a number of these players back for this game.

“Louisville is a much-improved team,” Donnenwirth said. “They get a lot of numbers back on defense, so they are hard to penetrate. They look to a counter-attack game and have a player that has a very long ‘flip throw,’ which is dangerous.”

ECU at Cincinnati

On Sunday, the Pirates are in Cincinnati to take on a very disappointing Bearcats team. The Bearcats were predicted to be one of the better teams in the league, but have found it difficult to put together any successive halves of soccer.

However, this program is a strong one and could surprise the Pirates if they are not prepared for them.

NEWS & NOTES:

2002 scoring leader sophomore Courtney Crandell, from Charlotte, just may have had the breakout game she has desperately been seeking this season in her two-goal burst against league-leading DePaul in a 3-1 upset on a soaked Transamerica Field. Crandell, has scored in the last two games and is looking much more like last year’s dynamic attacker. In garnering her 14^th point of the season, Crandell moves to 4^th on Charlotte’s all-time scoring list moving ahead of Blair Angell with 64 points…Cincinnati, in its 2-0 loss to Marquette on Friday, registered its highest shot total of the season at 12…In TCU’s 3-2 win over Houston on Friday, the Horned Frogs and the Cougars combined to be booked for 4 Yellow Cards and 1 Red Card in a big-time, physical matchup, which also marked Houston’s 5^th-straight C-USA defeat…UAB’s Jill Knottek scored her 4^th game-winner of the season and moved to into a 5^th-place tie on the Blazers’ all-time career goals list with her 21^st in a 3-0 rout of Southern Miss on Friday night. Teammate Tara Kidwell also moved up the all-time scorers list into 8^th position with her 20^th career tally…In defeating Murray State 3-0 on Friday, Louisville grabbed its 6^th win of the season, marking the most wins since the 1997 season when the Cardinals finished 7-13-0 overall…Texas Christian sophomore midfielder Moran Levi will take a two-week absence from her club to return to her home nation of Israel to compete for the national squad in the qualifying round of the 2004 European Cup...Charlotte junior midfielder Kim Miles was named the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week for scoring in games against Saint Louis and DePaul this week. Marquette's junior goalie Katie Bissen was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week after posting her league-leading 5th shutout...In winning two games last week, Tulane tied two program records - 9 wins and 5 consecutive victories, set in 2001 and 1999, respectively...The Pirates have played 4 double-overtime contests this season, the most in program history...Saint Louis has not yielded a goal at home in Hermann Stadium in 465 consecutive minutes of play...In its 9-0 domination of Jackson State, Southern Mississippi set a league record for shots on goal in a single match with 61...

THE TALLY SHEET:

The following table lists the leading scorers in 2003 for Conference-USA through Tuesday, October 21:

Player Team Goals Assists Total Points SITCH, Julianne DePaul 11 4 26 KONNO, Yuiko Memphis 10 3 23 McCALLION, Meghan East Carolina 10 1 21 CRAFT, Jamie Louisville 8 3 19 KIDWELL, Tara UAB 8 3 19 PERRY, Jamie Saint Louis 6 7 19 KNOTTEK, Jill UAB 7 3 17 CRANDELL, Courtney Charlotte 6 4 16 CIGNO, Christie Saint Louis 7 1 15 BARKLEY, Carly Southern Miss 7 0 14 KINNY, Liz Louisville 5 4 14 MOORE, Jessi TCU 6 2 14 VAN ZANDT, Amy TCU 5 4 14 WAGNER, Tasha Cincinnati 5 4 14 MARR, Kirsty Memphis 6 1 13 OBERT, Jackie Tulane 5 2 13 RYNDERS, Jenny UAB 5 2 12 SPACHT, Lauren DePaul 4 4 12 GUEMPEL, Dee Saint Louis 4 3 11 BRENNAN, Sarah Southern Miss 5 0 10 MORRIS, Lindsay Tulane 4 2 10 SIMONS, Asia Tulane 5 0 10 TRAVER, Jessica Tulane 3 4 10 CABECEIRAS, Rachelle East Carolina 4 1 9 MULVIHILL, Jenny South Florida 4 1 9 NIKAS, Anastasia East Carolina 1 7 9 PERROTT, Penny East Carolina 3 3 9 SCHUCH, Anna Saint Louis 4 1 9 MARR, Kirsty Memphis 3 1 7 PERROTT, Penny East Carolina 2 3 7 PREWITT, Lauren Southern Miss 3 1 7 HAWKINS, Nikki Houston 3 0 6 JENTS, Kim Louisville 3 0 6 KLOPP, Carolyn Marquette 2 2 6 RANDOLPH, Katie Southern Miss 2 2 6