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Unless you win it all, the season never quite gives you enough time to prepare for what always seems to be an abrupt ending. For the Pirates, both men and women, it was a season of growth.

For the women, it was a season in which they improved on last year, reached the conference tournament again and advanced past the quarterfinals for the first time. For the men, it was an erratic season which showed them both that they can, when playing at their best, play with anyone in the league and when at their worst, can look less than decent.

Amanda Duffy was named All-C-USA

for the second year in a row.

(ECU SID)

Donnenwirth,

above, and

O'Neill have

ECU moving in

right direction.

“Overall we have to be happy with (our) season,” women’s coach Rob Donnenwirth said. “It was probably the most successful season to date. Finishing third in C-USA surprised a lot of people. We can honestly say we can compete with anyone in our conference.”

The Pirates fell 2-1 to defending league champion Cincinnati in the Conference-USA semifinals. The Bearcats went on to down Marquette 2-1 in the finals. But the league took note of the rising Pirates.

“I think our team has gained the reputation for being tough competitors,” Donnenwirth said. “They stick to the game plan and fight to the end. Where we need improvement is on the technical side of things. We will improve in this area through spring practice and with recruiting.”

A season like this one makes recruiting a little easier, but Donnenwirth is taking nothing for granted. He is out selling.

“I already attended the (NC) State Cup games this past weekend,” he said. “This weekend I will be at a tournament in Bethesda, MD. The following weekend I will be at a tournament in Raleigh. After that I will be at the Orange Classic in Florida over Christmas break.”

With a young team returning all but three players, Donnenwirth can be a bit selective. Of course, he lost three stars, headlined by two-time all-conference attacker/midfielder Amanda Duffy. Duffy holds a number of ECU program bests and will be tough to replace.

“We have a lot of work to do replacing Duffy, (Unicity) Dittmer , and (Kristin) Hoyle,” Donnenwirth said. “All three of these players are bona fide starters.”

The women finished with an 11-7-4 overall mark and a 6-3-3 league mark, including tournament play.

The men and Coach Devin O’Neill face a similar situation where all but one player returns from the 6-10-2 team.

“The good news is return everyone except our goalkeeper,” O’Neill pointed out. “(Goalie) will be a major emphasis in recruiting, but we have two very good freshmen in our program and we will have to see who steps up this spring.

“We’ll look to bring in a smaller class but one of high quality. Look to improve athleticism within our squad. It is a fast, hard game in this division and in this conference and we need greater athleticism throughout the team if we are going to compete.”

Though the team finished 10^th out of 11 teams, O’Neill is not discouraged with his young team.

“We don’t think in terms of what worked and what didn’t work,” he said. “At times, we played very well. It is very disappointing in finishing up the season in a 6-0 loss to Saint Louis. But, a lot of that is attributable to the type of team that Saint Louis is as opposed to what our guys did not do on that day. (The Billikens) are a phenomenal team, just like Coastal Carolina. And in both of those games, they were one-sided matches.”

O’Neill thinks he has seen flashes of what is needed on a consistent basis to transform the Pirates to a contender.

“I was encouraged by the consistency of the output of effort and competitiveness of the the team this season,” he said. “You saw it in the training and the games. From that perspective, it was the best it has been best since we have been here.

“I think we’re close, but 6-10-2 is certainly not what we’re looking for as a program. We look at a number of those games and we were right in them with an opportunity to win. We were just two wins away from getting into the conference tournament and there were a couple of games we could have won.”

The players got a glimpse of what it takes on a daily basis to make it in the brutal C-USA.

“This conference is exceptional and we are going to have to be very consistent to be successful,” O’Neill said. “The springtime is going to be an important period for us. We need to continue in the same vein and find that extra to push us through. We see great potential in this group and we need to keep at it."

"We were just two wins away from getting into the conference tournament and there were a couple of games we could have won."

The Pirates graduate just one player from the roster in four-year starter in the goal R.J. Marvinney. Though he will be sorely missed, the goalies that are on the roster

Marvinney is the only

key loss for the men.

(ECU SID)

both appear to have the potential to solidify the situation between the pipes. Time will tell which rising sophomore keeper will emerge between Ohio native Nick Tarkany and Maryland product Corey Shea.

The Pirates were dead set on finishing the season strong with a solid performance and perhaps an upset over top-tier foe Saint Louis. It didn’t happen. The Pirates ran into a Billiken team that was priming for its home run at the Conference-USA crown. Preseason Player of the Year Jack Jewsbury tallied twice and regular season scoring champion Jason Cole found the back of the net twice and added an assist to lead the Billikens. The Pirates were overwhelmed in the 6-0 defeat, capping the season at 6-10-2 overall and 2-6-2 in the league to finish 10^th in C-USA ahead of Texas Christian.

Senior R.J. Marvinney is the only player departing from this squad as the team starts to look ahead to next year. Marvinney will be a huge loss between the pipes, having posted more than 300 career starts with more than 100 this season. He was not only an excellent keeper, but he was also the team captain and leader on the field in his all-time ECU mark of 58 games. He will be missed.

Charlotte took it on the chin in the final season of the week, dropping two league contests and dropping them ugly. The Louisville Cardinals ripped Charlotte 3-0 and Memphis also won 2-1 as the 49ers played themselves out of tournament contention…Speaking of the tournament, which begins today in Saint Louis, the following six teams made the cast of characters (in seeded order): Marquette, Saint Louis, Louisville, South Florida, Cincinnati, UAB…In the Bearcats win over UAB, 2-1, Cincinnati earned a spot in the tournament. Sophomore Wiremu Patrick scored the game-winner with just over two minutes left in regulation…Louisville solidified its hold on the No. 3 seed in the final week of the regular season by sweeping to two victories over C-USA foes. The tournament appearance comes as the Cardinals in the midst of a five-game win C-USA win streak and breaks the program mark for C-USA wins with 6. Devin Matthews, Simon Bird, and Fernando Tollomelli each tallied in the win. Bird also scored and Bryan Wells added two assists as the Cards blanked DePaul 2-0. Bird’s performance garnered him C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honors. Matthews’ success however ultimately is costing his team as the Canadian National Team has called up the young player to fill a roster spot vacated via an injury. Matthews will miss the C-USA tourney...Marquette used a 2-1 win over DePaul to secure its first Conference-USA regular season title since 1997. The Golden Eagles got two goals from senior midfielder Bryan Godfrey for the win. Though tied with C-USA tourney host for first, Marquette wins the title by virtue of a 1-0 win in the head-to-head tiebreaker. Marquette got two goals from sophomore Chris Lee in a 3-0 non-league victory over Wisconsin in a tourney tune-up game to wrap up the regular season...Memphis, though not in the tournament field, treated its finale like a tourney game by knocking off Charlotte on the road, 2-1. Justin Dyer tallied the game-winner in the 76^th minute to help the Tigers finish the season with a 10-7-1 overall record. The 10 wins marked the 13^th time this program has hit that milestone. The last time was in 2000. Earlier in the week, Memphis routed Belmont in a non-league contest. The team had a season-high 39 shots on goal and scored all seven goals in the second half. Memphis co-captain Chris Schmidt was named to the Verizon Academic All-District IV Soccer Team. Joining Schmidt on the District IV team are Cincinnati’s Anders Cedergren and Matt Hayden…South Florida qualified for the tournament by knocking off TCU 1-0 in overtime to end the regular season. Freshman sensation Hunter West tallied unassisted for the game-winner. The trip to the tournament represents the 7^th time in 8 years for the Bulls…UAB keeper Clint Baumstark has been called up by the U.S. Under-20 National Team and will not participate in the C-USA tournament for the Blazers.

The following table lists the FINAL Conference USA scoring leaders for the regular season:

“Finishing third in C-USA surprised a lot of people. We can honestly say we can compete with anyone in our conference..”

The Pirates have their work cut out looking for replacements for departing seniors Amanda Duffy, Unicity Dittmer, and Kristin Hoyle.

The good news is that with players like rising sophomore Meghan McCallion and rising senior Mindy Nixon as well as all-CUSA tourney team member Krystel Pabey back, the Pirates look like they may be able to build on the team's most successful season to date.

The Conference-USA tournament berth was expected by the Pirates and save a narrow 2-1 loss to Cincinnati in the tourney semifinals, the Pirates might well be preparing to play in the NCAAs. But, it did not go that way. The Pirates did, however, make their deepest run into the tournament since joining the league. Amanda Duffy and Meghan McCallion each tallied in the win over Houston in the quarters. Krystel Pabey scored on an assist from Duffy in the loss to Cincinnati in the semifinals. Duffy and Pabey were named to the All-C-USA Tournament team.

In addition to all-tournament honors, Duffy was named to the all-Conference-USA team...Other Pirates were recognized in the league. Defender Penny Perrott was named to the all-C-USA 2nd Team while defender Mindy Nixon earned a slot on the 3rd Team...Forward Meghan McCallion was named to the C-USA all-Freshman team...After outshooting Houston 12-3 in the quarterfinals, the Pirates found themselves out-attacked 17-2 against the Bearcats. Despite the limited opportunities, the Pirates found twine on one of the shots...The goalie battle should be very hotly-contested next season as rising sophomores Lauren Church and Michele Kmiotek both got plenty of action and looked good in doing so...Duffy broke the career goal mark (33) and points mark (83) for the Pirates. She also holds the single-season record for goals, points and shots and ranks third in assists...Freshman McCallion made the single-season charts, tying Duffy for third with six assists and tying for second in goals with 10...Freshman goalkeeper Kmiotek made the single-season top five taking first in goals against average with 0.66 and tying for fourth with shutouts, 5.0...Senior Kristin Hoyle was selected to the first team and will be on the Academic All-American ballot.

It was tournament time for the women and the eight teams to advance were Charlotte, Cincinnati, ECU, Saint Louis, Marquette, Houston, South Florida, and Memphis. Cincinnati, not 12th-ranked Charlotte, won the title for the second-straight time and fourth time overall as a program. As C-USA champion, the Bearcats earned the automatic NCAA bid for the league. However, in a first for C-USA, the league grabbed two at-large bids with Charlotte and Marquette now making plans for the big show...In sweeping to victory, the Bearcats' Tasha Wagner gained Conference-USA Tournament Most Valuable Offensive Player by virtue of her two goals and an assist over the weekend of play. No goals were bigger than her game-winner in the 83rd minute versus Marquette in the finals. The Bearcats won the title by defeating, in order, South Florida (3-1), ECU (2-1) and Marquette (2-1)...The host team, Charlotte, ran into a hot Marquette team in the semifinals and went down 2-1 after taking a 1-0 lead early in the game. Ashley Spakowitz tallied the game-winner for the Golden Eagles in the 82nd minute of play. Top-seeded Charlotte knocked off 8th-seeded Memphis in the quarters 2-1 as the 49ers rallied. League scoring champion, freshman Courtney Crandell chipped in two assists in the game...Kate Gordon, Anne Dalecky, and Anne Ioder led Marquette to the Finals, starting with an incredible overtime win against Saint Louis in a match between the 5th-seeded Golden Eagles and the 4th-seeded Billikens. Dalecky's goal in the 103rd minute was the difference for hte Golden Eagles in the quarterfinal victory.

The following table lists the FINAL Conference USA scoring leaders for the regular season:

Women advance to Tourney Semis; Men looking for consistency