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In ECU’s lightening-shortened, 2-1 road victory over Elon, the Pirates kicked off the season with something it sorely needed, a confidence booster. Moral victories mean little and though Elon may not be a powerhouse in the soccer ranks, to gain victory on the road in an opener is nonetheless pivotal for a program seeking an identity among a Conference full of soccer well-knowns.

ECU-SID

Avren and his teammates look to

bag a pair of wins this weekend.

“I thought that we played well versus Elon,” first year head coach Michael Benn said. “The guys were ready to play and a bit anxious to start the season. In the attack, we had some very good ideas, but at times our execution was just a bit off the mark. That will continue to improve as we gain more experience playing with each other. Defensively, I thought we did well for most of the game. We were up 2-0 and you don’t want to give up a late goal, as we did, to make it tight down the stretch. We have to improve in closing games out when we have the lead.”

It was that latter comment that may spell the possibility for a legitimate season of improvement for the Pirates. For a change, it was ECU that dominated an opponent. It was the Pirates giving up, not scoring, the meaningless goal down the stretch. It was the Pirates sprinting out to a 2-0 lead and holding on. It was a real victory, not a moral one.

And there were other important positives. The scoring came from reserves, showing a potential for depth with a bite. The shutout was collected by a freshman in the pipes, indicating some sense of the future. And it was an experienced player in the middle, providing leadership, offering a hope that this year’s edition will be in each contest.

Now the Pirates turn to this week’s slate, which sees them traveling to a veteran UNC-Asheville team before opening conference play on Sunday at Charlotte, a team that has started off the season with a pair of tough losses. It will be tough, no doubt, but ECU is hoping to parlay week one success into a little streak.

For the women, the disappointment of the 5-3 loss to national powerhouse Texas on Friday at SAS Field in Cary, cannot be understated. It is not due to some unreal expectation of success, but rather, due to the REAL expectation of success and the Pirates realize that not only did they not seize an opportunity to make a national statement, but more importantly, the team realizes that they in truth probably “blew” the opportunity.

Coach Rob Donnenwirth and his team know that despite the close score, the Pirates were more responsible for their undoing against the 5^th-ranked Longhorns, than the opponent was. Not taking away from Texas, but the Pirates really had the opportunity to win the game.

“We knew what to expect from Texas,” Donnenwirth said. “We knew they had a lot of firepower up top and they punished us for our mistakes. I was pleased we were able to create some chances. We gambled and played with three forwards because we felt their backline was inexperienced. This helped us offensively but at times we got stretched having to cover too much ground in the midfield.”

The Longhorns did make ECU pay, particularly All-America Kelly Wilson who hung a hat trick on the Pirates in the second-half to seal the victory for Texas. But, all was not lost in the experience as both teams walked away from the game knowing that two very good clubs were on the field.

Sophomore forward Meghan McCallion has shown more improvement and is clearly a player headed for national recognition at her position. Penny Perrott is every bit as advertised anchoring the backline. And above all, the depth on the squad makes it much easier for the Pirates to take advantage of running in and out fresh legs.

“The biggest positive is we are able to make substitutions and not lose a beat,” Donnenwirth said. “This is very important with the new substitution rule this year (once a player leaves in a half, they cannot return to the next half. Second half substations are done for the day.)”

The team improved to 1-1 with a decisive 2-0 victory over Liberty, but Donnewirth says there is work to do and the team is not looking ahead of each game.

“We have long range goals but right now we need to concentrate on getting better every game,” he said. “Our practice on Tuesday was not our best and we let the team know it. The best teams continually improve throughout the season and we need to peak at the right time.”

The Pirates are looking to capitalize on the things they saw working against Texas and Liberty.

“We are playing with three forwards, which is a change from our normal 4-4-2 alignment,” Donnenwirth explained. “We have some good firepower up top and we want to get our forwards minutes. Our forwards have been very good so far.

“Our midfield is still learning how to play with three instead of four players. We aren’t building through the midfield as much as we used to. Overall, they defended well as individuals but team defending needs to get better.”

With games against old rival UNC-Wilmington and Delaware this weekend at the Charlotte-hosted tournament, the Pirates are looking forward to seeing what growth took place over the opening weekend.

On Friday, ECU junior forward Matt Kowaleski tallied twice to lead the Pirates to a season-opening win on the road at Elon, 2-1. Kowaleski tallied in the 29^th minute, converting a Reed Avren pass. Kowaleski finished the ECU scoring unassisted in the 78^th minute. The game was called at the 84:24 mark as heavy storms and vicious lightening rolled in. Freshman Brian Pope collected the shutout in the net, turning back 11 shots.

“Brian Pope was very good,” coach Benn said. “I wouldn’t call it a surprise because we knew Brian was a good keeper, but his bravery and composure were exceptional.”

“Matt Kowaleski did a great job coming off the bench to score a goal in both halves,” Benn said. “Matt gives us a dimension in our attack by being willing to run at defenders and take them 1 versus 1.”

Looking to make it two in a row, the Pirates were excited to head to High Point on Sunday, but the game could not be played due to stormy weather. No makeup date has been posted yet.

"Clyde Simms led our team in shots for the game, and that is something we have been trying to get Clyde to do. The more aggressive Clyde is on the offensive end, the more space he will open for his teammates."

The Pirates travel to Asheville to take on the Bulldogs at Greenwood Field (3,200). The Bulldogs return 16 lettermen and seven starters to the lineup from last season’s team that went 6-10-2 and, like the Pirates, are coming off an opening-season, 2-0 win – their’s against Wofford. Though unimpressive in record, the core of the team is back and more mature, starting with a solid midfield in returners Greg Garrison, Greg Yelverton, and Jonathan Long. A trio of forwards also return. The three, Mike Kachan (assist), Jordan Holthouser (goal), and Barrett Locke combined to tally 49 total points on the season. The backline and goalkeeper were hit hardest by graduation and could present a nice mismatch for what could be a strong ECU attack against an untested Asheville defense.

“UNC-Asheville is a good team that plays very hard,” Benn assessed. “They won their regular-season opener and have eight seniors who are leading their team. I expect a very hard fought, tight match that won’ be decided until the second half.”

The Pirates face a frustrated Charlotte (0-2) team on Sunday to open Conference-USA play. The 49ers are coming off back-to-back losses to Colonial Athletic Association soccer powers George Mason and James Madison. Both GMU and JMU shutout Charlotte, 1-0 and 3-0 respectively and even more so may have exposed that Charlotte could be a very slow-starting team as both opponents tallied goals in the early minutes of each contest. Despite that, Charlotte possesses one of the league’s most-promising attackers in Mira Mupier who was among league-leaders last season. Still, this contest is coming to be a great rivalry between the two North Carolina schools with the two teams splitting last season in one-goal games.

“Charlotte is a very good team,” coach Benn said. “They have started 0-2, but that does not reflect the quality of their team. The have good goalkeeping and an experienced, physical backline. They have some very dynamic players in the attack, so we are going to have to defend very well 1 versus 1. They are well coached and very organized. We are their home opener, first Conference-USA game, and first game since opening weekend, so I expect that we will see a very motivated team on Sunday.“

Pirate starter Michael Logan was injured in the Elon game and will be out of the lineup for a few weeks...ECU’s Sunday rained out game at High Point has been rescheduled for September 12 at 7 p.m. at High Point…Saint Louis freshman midfielder David Peplinski was named the Conference-USA Offensive Player of the Week for the first week of the season based on his strong play in a shutout victory over Akron and more importantly his game-winner in a 3-2 overtime victory over No. 14 Virginia on Sunday to win the Adidas Classic over the weekend…Saint Louis junior goalie Martin Hutton was named to the College Soccer News national team of the week for the season’s opening week of play…Alabama-Birmingham senior co-captain Tony McManus garnered Conference-USA Defensive Player of the Week honors for his strong play in leading the nationally-ranked Blazers to a pair of draws against two top-10 teams in No. 7 Indiana and No. 3 Notre Dame…UAB’s two scoreless ties over the weekend against a pair of top-10 teams has helped push the Blazers to No. 13 in the national rankings posted by the NCSAA each week…South Florida scoring machine, sophomore Hunter West is back at it already this season, having tallied three goals over the first weekend of play. However, the attack is crowded with talent this year for the Bulls as a new freshman sensation may be in the making in Drew Helm, this week’s scoring leader on his two goal, two assist weekend…Due to stadium field improvements taking place at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex, Memphis has announced that the Memphis-Diadora Tournament will now be held at Echles Field on the campus of the University of Memphis. The four-team tournament will be held on the weekend of Sept. 5-6.

The following table lists the leading scorers in 2003 through Sunday, August 31:

Player

Team

Goals

Assists

Total

Points

HELM, Drew	South Florida	2	2	6
WEST, Hunter	South Florida	3	0	6
BIRD, Simon	Louisville	2	1	5
KOHLMEYER, Blair	Marquette	2	0	4
KOWALESKI, Matt	East Carolina	2	0	4
IBISEVIC, Vedad	Saint Louis	1	1	3
PEPLINSKI, David	Saint Louis	1	1	3
DiRAIMONDO, John	Saint Louis	1	0	2
JOHN, Will	Saint Louis	1	0	2
PIERRE, Justin	Louisville	1	0	2
POMEROY, Ryan	Louisville	1	0	2
ROJO, Luke	DePaul	1	0	2
TOLOMELLI, Fernando	Louisville	1	0	2
AVREN, Reed	East Carolina	0	1	1
KING, Kevin	South Florida	0	1	1

Highly-ranked Texas looked every bit the part in the first half on Friday in ECU’s season opener at SAS field in Cary. The Longhorns tallied two quick goals, one from star Kelly McDonald and the other from Pricilla Fite to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. The Pirates, however, turned around the contest in the second half, tallying a pair of goals themselves. The first coming off the foot of Meghan McCallion on an assist from Rachelle Cabeceiras in the 69^th minute. McCallion tallied again in the 82^nd minute from Krystal Pabey. Texas responded with a second-half hat trick courtesy of All-America Kelly Wilson, whose first goal turned out to be the game-winner. ECU did get a goal in the closing minutes from Melissa Penny, unassisted.

ECU rebounded on Sunday to collect its first win of the season at home to Liberty. Freshman Anastasia Nikas set up both goals for ECU to lead the attack. Nikas found Meghan McCallion in the 54^th minute for a tally and then set up Penny Perrott for a goal off a header served up from a corner kick. Goalie Lauren Church recorded the shutout.

“Against Liberty, we were able to put them under extreme pressure (in extreme hot conditions) from the opening whistle,” coach Donnenwirth said. “We had three unbelievable chances in the opening three minutes. I was very happy with our play but we just couldn’t finish. So we went to halftime 0-0 and told the team to not get frustrated and continue what they were doing. We scored two goals about a minute apart from each other and the game was over.”

ECU sophomore forward Meghan McCallion’s three-goal weekend earned her Conference-USA Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors in C-USA’s first week of play. She shares the honor with Tulane’s Jessica Traver…Last year's scoring champion, Charlotte sophomore Courtney Crandell found the first weekend of soccer a bit tough, drawing heavy marks. The 49ers dropped both contests and Crandell could muster only an assist...Three Southern Miss and four Tulane players were named to the Tulane Invitational Tournament all tournament team over the weekend. From USM it was sophomore Micah Stephens, junior Lauren Prewitt, and freshman Kim Turner and for Tulane it was Jessica Traver, Leah Peterson, Jessica Mendez, and Jackie Obert...Tulane double-dipped for this week's Conference-USA awards. Freshman forward Jessica Traver was named the co-Offensive Player of the Week and Leah Peterson was named the Defensive Player of the Week.

“Meghan McCallion was tremendous in both games. Texas and Liberty had trouble with her speed.”

ECU faces UNC-Wilmington in the opening game of the Charlotte tournament this weekend and the Seahawks bring a 1-1 record into the contest. The team’s victory came against the same Liberty squad ECU beat by the same score, 2-0. In that contest, the Seahawks looked strong in dominating the action in the second half, getting both tallies beyond the intermission.

This year’s team returns 10 starters from last year’s 11-8 season, including forward Kristine Mengle (2 goals) and midfielder Anne Weaver (goal, assist). Mengle and Weaver were among the team’s top scorers last season and appear to be at it again, keying the Liberty victory. With a new goalie and a inexperienced backline, the Pirates will look to push the attack. However, the strength of the UNC-Wilmington team also lies in the attack and central midfield, so the ECU defenders will be in for a challenge.

“I saw UNC-W play versus UNC-G on Monday and (the Seahawks) were impressive,” Donnenwirth said. “We will need to be on top of our game.”

Delaware heads into the Charlotte Tournament undefeated with wins over Saint Joseph’s and University of Maryland-Baltimore County. The Blue Hens boast a powerful attack and have tallied seven goals to none against their first two opponents.

Senior Francesca Termini (2 goals) is the team's biggest attack threat and has shown that ability already this season. The Blue Hens can score from all over however as they have already seen six players tally on the young season. Goalie Lindsey Shover notched career shutouts number 7 and 8 over the weekend.

The following table lists the leading scorers in '03 through Monday, September 1:

Player	Team	Goals	Assists	Total Points
McCALLION, Meghan	East Carolina	3	0	6
TRAVER, Jessica	Tulane	2	2	6
SITCH, Julianne	DePaul	2	1	5
PERRY, Jamie	Saint Louis	2	0	4
WAGNER, Tasha	Cincinnati	1	2	4
MENDEZ, Jessica	Tulane	1	1	3
BALCONI, Renee	Cincinnati	1	0	2
BARKLEY, Carly	Southern Miss	1	0	2
BRENNAN, Sarah	Southern Miss	1	0	2
CIGNO, Christie	Saint Louis	1	0	2
COSTILOW, Kay Beth	Southern Miss	1	0	2
DEVINE, Haley	Charlotte	1	0	2
FERGUSON, Kelly	Saint Louis	1	0	2
GUEMPEL, Dee	Saint Louis	0	2	2
HAWKINS, Nikki	Houston	1	0	2
HILL, Lea	DePaul	1	0	2
HULCER, Courtney	Saint Louis	0	2	2
KIDWELL, Tara	UAB	1	0	2
KLOPP, Carolyn	Marquette	1	0	2
KONNO, Yuiko	Memphis	1	0	2
NEIDENBACH, Trisha	Saint Louis	1	0	2
NIKAS, Anastasia	East Carolina	0	2	2
OBERT, Jackie	Tulane	1	0	2
PENNY, Melissa	East Carolina	1	0	2
PERROTT, Penny	East Carolina	1	0	2
ROSS, Rachel	South Florida	1	0	2
RYNDERS, Jenny	UAB	1	0	2
SCHUCH, Anna	Saint Louis	1	0	2
STEPHENS, Lisa	Cincinnati	1	0	2
WHEELER, Melissa	Tulane	1	0	2
CABECEIRAS, Rachelle	East Carolina	0	1	1
CRANDELL, Courtney	Charlotte	0	1	1
CULANE, Lauren	Marquette	0	1	1
DAFELDECKER, Erin	South Florida	0	1	1
DEASON, Lindsey	DePaul	0	1	1
DeBAENE, Kelly	DePaul	0	1	1
GRUBER, Jacque	Tulane	0	1	1
LUCIER, Anny	Saint Louis	0	1	1
McCARTY, Briana	UAB	0	1	1
PABEY, Krystal	East Carolina	0	1	1
TERLIP, Megan	Charlotte	0	1	1
THOMPSON, Rachel	Tulane	0	1	1
WALTER, Erin	DePaul	0	1	1