Women Punch Ticket to Tourney 

Men facing league elites in slim bid to make tourney field

By Ron Cherubini
©2002 Bonesville.net

Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the East Carolina soccer teams made their way to the top tier of Conference-USA. For now, it is the women that have clearly established themselves as a top-tier team in the league and the region as well.

For the men, it is slower in coming, but flashes are there and the attitude is correct, though this season looks to be another to file in the character-building and program development drawer of the file cabinet.

After another successful week that saw the women knock off Marquette and draw a tie with DePaul, ECU has locked up a Conference-USA tournament berth and now, with their league-slate complete, await the results of other games to learn where they will end up finishing. The team can do no worse than fourth, but with the right results from contests involving Saint Louis and Cincinnati, the Pirates could finish second behind 12^th-ranked and unbeaten Charlotte.

“We are currently tied for second place in the C-USA standings with Cincinnati and St. Louis,” coach Rob Donnenwirth said. “Both of those teams have a game to play and we are finished (in the league). We would win the tie-breaker with both teams if they were to lose. St. Louis has a home game against first-place Charlotte and Cincy has a home game versus last place Louisville. We can’t finish worst than fourth and we’ll see what happens.”

Statistically, it looks like a third place finish for the Pirates, but one never knows. Who they would play in the tournament is a tougher question to answer.

“The rest of the league is in an incredible race for the top eight,” Donnenwirth explained. “There are six teams virtually deadlocked with one or two games to play. Many of these teams play each other and it could come down to tie-breaking criteria.”

So how did the Pirates get into this fortuitous position?

They took out Marquette, in a key league game last week.

“Marquette was a big win for our program,” Donnenwirth said. “I felt the difference in the game was our intensity and tenaciousness. Marquette surprised us early by playing with three forwards and after the first 10 minutes is was 1-0 Marquette and they were rolling. From that point on we played right with them.

“Our backs once again were tough as nails. We have a good rotation in the midfield that allowed ourselves to keep the intensity level up.”

All season, Donnenwirth has harped on execution of set pieces. Corners and free kicks often make the difference in big games and against Marquette, that was certainly the case.

“We had two corner kicks versus Marquette and scored on both,” Donnenwirth pointed out.

The first goal was the result of a beautifully played corner by Krystel Pabey. Pabey drove a neat cross to the near post where Penny Perrott, who is 5-11, was able to sky and flick the ball on to midfielder Amanda Duffy who one-timed it into the roof of the net.

Perrott again used her height on the Pirates second corner kick, only this time she took matters into her own hands – or head to be more precise. Perrott took the ball from amongst a trio of Marquette players by outjumping the lot and deftly heading the ball into the far corner of the goal.

Perhaps the more telling sign for ECU and what has Donnenwirth excited heading into the tournament is the backline play demonstrated as Marquette furiously attempted a rally.

“It was an exciting finish as Marquette threw everyone forward trying to get the equalizer,” Donnenwirth said. “We had many very good performances. Penny Perrott was solid in the back and got a goal and an assist. Duffy also added a goal and an assist.”

The team, sensing the gravity of a win, summoned its collective strength and held off Marquette via pure physicality.

The effort exerted may have impacted the team as they were able to muster only a draw against DePaul, 0-0.

“It’s difficult to replicate the same intensity level on Sunday games,” Donnenwirth said. “I think the girls were ready for DePaul but they didn’t have the same juice as they did versus Marquette. DePaul had a non-conference game on Friday and this was their big game for the weekend that they needed to win to stay in the playoff picture.”

Against DePaul, the Pirate backs were again solid. But up front, heavy legs prevailed.

“I felt our forwards didn’t give us what we normally get,” he said. “Our off the ball movement was non-existent. I felt we worked hard defensively, but we didn’t show a lot of energy once we got the ball. Depaul played a tough and physical defensive game and were dangerous on the counter-attack.”

Still, the point from the draw coupled with the three points earned against Marquette has the team feeling good about themselves. If there was a disappointment, it was only on the recognition front. The Pirates are currently rated 11^th by SoccerBuzz magazine in the South Region polls. A win against DePaul would most likely have elevated the squad into the top 10 in the tough southern region.

Still, the team is hyped and looking forward to focusing on tournament play.

“We are banged up a bit after this weekend,” Donnenwirth said. “No major injuries but we will need to limit minutes for some players so we don’t wear them down for the tournament.”

The bench will get most of the minutes in the two in-state, non-league rivalry games slated for this week. Today, it will be Senior Day in the team’s last home game on the slate. Old foe UNC-Wilmington visits Bunting Field. Then the team travels to Elon to closeout the regular season.

“UNCW is a big rivalry game,” Donnenwirth said. “They are eliminated from their conference tournament so this is their big game left. Elon is our final regular season game and we will need to REALLY limit minutes in that game. We are obviously going into these games to win, but we also have to be smart and see the big picture. It will be a time for some reserves to step up to the plate.”

On the men’s side, the picture is not so pretty from a Conference-USA perspective. In the already competitive league, there are just six tournament spots and the Pirates are outside looking in, needing wins over two of the league’s top teams and some help from a tightly-bunched slate of clubs.

“The loss to Cincinnati is disappointing,” coach Devin O’Neill said. “It in all likelihood probably puts us out of an opportunity to make the tournament. That is very disappointing because that was obviously our goal. Cincinnati is an excellent team and our guys played very hard and well. We were in a position to win and then gave up two late goals.”

Mathematically, the Pirates still have a chance, but they would have to defeat the best team in the league in Marquette and then also find a way to down Saint Louis on the road. It is a mountainous climb for the Pirates, but it does provide some opportunities for excitement down the stretch. The team most surely recalls last season when they handed it to nationally-ranked UAB in the final game of the season. So it is possible.

“Our approach for the remainder of the season is to continue to work and play hard,” O’Neill said. “We need to continue to work toward our potential. We dream of becoming a conference tournament team. To win a conference championship, we must pursue it diligently. We cannot take a day off in pursuing the (program) goals. These guys will continue to work hard (toward that).”

Despite the daunting nature of the remainder of the schedule, it does provide an opportunity to gain some momentum heading out.

With a visit to North Carolina State on Thursday and then Marquette at home on Sunday, the Pirates should have little trouble getting excited about the games.

“They are two very good teams,” O’Neill said. “North Carolina State has not had the results that they had hoped for this season, but you can’t argue State’s quality of schedule in the best soccer conference, arguably, in the country. It will be a stiff test.”

State brings a young, but gifted team athletically.

“Marquette currently stands as the number one team in the conference,” O’Neill said. “They are very good athletically and are well-coached. It will be another Conference-USA battle, one tough test after another tough test.

“We are looking forward to both games.”

Where there is hope, there is opportunity and this week, the Pirates have an opportunity to make things very exciting down the stretch.

NOTEBOOKS:

East Carolina Men

This Week’s Slate:

Thursday, Oct. 31: ECU at N.C. State, 2:00 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 3: Marquette at ECU, 1:00 p.m.

Last Week:

ECU 3, Campbell 1

Cincinnati 2, ECU 0

Coach O’Neill says:

"The win over Campbell was a good win,” he said. “We would have loved to get the shutout, but unfortunately we came up a few minutes short on that. We were probably as sharp on attack and restarts as we have been all season."

Looking Ahead:

The Pirates are looking to use a visit to North Carolina State as a springboard to a pair of league games that will determine the team’s tournament fate. In State, the Pirates draw the ACC cellar-dweller. The Wolfpack is winless in league play and are 4-11-0 overall. The team is coming off a 2-1 loss to UNC-G. The Wolfpack is an extremely young team with freshman forward Bryant Salter (13 goals) and frosh midfielder Federico Peria (13 assists) leading the offensive attack. State averages just 10.5 shots per game. Freshman Aaron King (7 goals, 4 assists) is perhaps the team’s most versatile player. Senior goalie Mitchell Watson is giving up roughly 2 tallies a contest (1.90 gaa). Marquette, conversely, is the Conference-USA leader at 7-7-0 and 5-2-0 in the league. The attack is paced by standout junior forward/midfielder Derek Gutierrez (7 goals, 3 assists) and junior mid Matt Darby (3 goals, 5 assists). Darby was this week’s C-USA Offensive Player of the Week. Senior midfielder Mike Robards (4 goals, 3 assists) and senior forward Eric Marshall (4 goals, 2 assists) also have ample skills to find twine. The Golden Eagles are coming off a huge 2-1 win over UAB in the upper tier of the league. Marquette has struggled on the road a bit, going 2-4-0 away from home and the team is winless in league on the road. Goalie Adam Ubert has a 1.35 goals against average.

Rewind:

What started out as a positive week, quickly went South when it most counted. The Pirates got a non-league win, but saw its dreams of a trip to the C-USA tournament take a hard shot late in the week. Junior midfielder Michael Logan tallied twice and assisted once and junior attacker Brian Deutsch added a goal to lead the Pirates to a well-played and much-needed 3-1 victory over the in-state rival Campbell. However, whatever moment that was gained was quickly erased when the Cincinnati Bearcats dominated in a 2-0 win over the visiting Pirates. The Bearcats outshot the Pirates 17-3 on the day. Goalie R.J. Marvinney put up a valiant effort between the pipes, but could not keep the vaunted Bearcats offensive off the scoreboard.

On the Pitch:

No new news to report.

Around C-USA:

Charlotte represented C-USA well by dominating in their performance at the Big Four Classic played in Charlotte last week. The 49ers first blanked N.C. State 2-0 on the strength of a pair of goals by Mira Mupier. Freshman goalie Daniel Burk registered six saves and posted his second straight shutout in the win over the ‘Pack. The ACC blitz didn’t end there as the 49ers dropped 25^th-ranked Duke 1-0 and handed goalie Lucas Mackanos his fifth shutout of the season. Rob Evitts tallied the game-winner in the 54^th minute…In addition to Cincinnati’s win over ECU, the Bearcats also collected a non-league victory over Oakland, 3-0. The Bearcats tallied all three goals in the first half of play, with two coming off the foot of Tim Brown. Jarrett Devereaux added the other goal for Cincy…DePaul picked up a pair of wins and star attacker Luke Rojo factored into both games. Rojo tallied the game-winner in a 2-1 overtime affair with non-league foe Loyola-Chicago and then followed it up by tallying one of his team’s goals in a 2-0 win over TCU. The win over TCU pushed DePaul’s home mark at Wish Field to a perfect 5-0 on the season…Louisville, in a surprise result, topped South Florida on Friday night 3-1 to secure a C-USA victory. Justin Pierre tallied a goal and Simon Bird added two more for the Cardinals. Kevin Cowan scored the Bulls’ only goal…C-USA Player of the Week Matt Darby scored both Marquette goals on Sunday to lead the Golden Eagles to a 2-1 win over UAB to secure first place in the league standings. Marin Pusek tallied for the Blazers…Jermie Frankson and Flavio Monteiro each tallied as UAB got a 2-1 league win over Memphis on Friday night. Monteiro’s game-winner came in the 87^th minute of play for UAB. Freshman Omar Jarun scored his first collegiate goal for Memphis in the loss…Jason Cole’s hat trick was not enough for Saint Louis as the Billikens and TCU battled to a 3-3 tie in a league clash. John Morrell and Andrew Porteous tallied for TCU, which got its other goal via an own goal by Saint Louis…South Florida blew a 2-0 lead to fall to in-state rival Florida International 3-2 in overtime. League-leading scorer Hunter West, a freshman, tallied a goal for USF…UAB sophomore goalie Clint Baumstark was recently named to the Under-20 U.S. National Team pool.

The Tally Sheet:

The following table lists the Conference USA scoring leaders as of 29-Oct-2002:

East Carolina Women

This Week’s Slate:

Wednesday, Oct. 30: UNC-W at ECU, 2:00 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 2: ECU at Elon, 11:00 a.m.

Last Week:

ECU 2, Marquette 1

ECU 0, DePaul 0 (2OT)

Coach Donnenwirth says:

“The rest of the league is in an incredible race for the top eight spots. There are six teams virtually deadlocked with one or two games to play.”

Looking Ahead:

With the league slate complete, the Pirates look to stay fine-tuned with a pair of non-league, in-state contests. The Pirates entertain old CAA foe Wilmington on Wednesday. The Seahawks come into the contest with a 10-7-0 overall mark and a 3-6-0 CAA stature. Sophomore midfielder Caroline Renkin (6 goals, 3 assists), freshman mid Jen Knoblich (5 goals, assist) and junior midfielder/forward Ann Weaver (5 goals, assist) lead the offensive attack for UNC-W. Sophomore Kristine Mengle (3 goals, 4 assists) provides more punch for the Seahawk lineup. A trio of freshmen goalies have all seen significant minutes this season. Generally, Tiffany Langford (1.19 gaa) gets the nod ahead of Rachael Wilson (1.63 gaa) and Danielle Hammer (1.92 gaa) between the pipes. The backline is anchored by Jennifer Truda and Sara Marshall. Elon comes into its home game against the Pirates, struggling a bit with a  5-9-1 overall mark and a 2-3-1 Big South mark. The Phoenix is coming off a 2-0 loss to Liberty – a team the Pirates defeated this season. The Phoenix attack is paced by senior midfielder Jessica Mills (4 goals, 7 assists) and junior back Kate Schabo (5 goals, assist). Sophomore forward Erin Gaeng (2 assists) and senior back Denise Rogers (2 assists) contribute to the attack as well. Sophomore goalie Kara Zagol carries a 1.97 gaa into the Sunday contest.

Rewind:

It was another great week for the women as the team clinched a tournament playoff berth with a victory and a tie in league play. Senior midfielder Amanda Duffy scored one and added an assist to Penny Perrott to lift the Pirates to a 2-1 victory over Marquette. Freshman goalie Michele Kmiotek had three saves in the win. The win was a huge confidence-builder as well as a key victory in the all-important battle for C-USA seeding. After the emotional win, the Pirates stuck it out in a grueling C-USA battle with DePaul to come away with a 0-0 double-overtime draw. Freshman forward Meghan McCallion got off six solid shots on goal, but could not find the twine to clinch victory. It was an evenly played contest, with DePaul holding a 15-14 shots on goal edge. Kmiotek had seven saves on the day.

On the Pitch:

The Pirates are making noise in the region and other coaches and fans are taking note. Currently, the team is rated 11^th in the Southeast Region by SoccerBuzz magazine, a respected ranking outlet…At today’s contest against Wilmington, the Pirates will recognize a trio of seniors who will be making their last appearances at Bunting Field for ECU. Co-captain, midfielder Amanda Duffy, defender Kristen Hoyle, and defender/midfielder Unicity Dittmer. The trio lead ECU’s move into Conference-USA…The Pirates have locked up a C-USA tournament berth once again this season and can finish anywhere from second to fourth in the final standings, depending on the outcomes of two games involving Saint Louis and Cincinnati. Both teams have one  game remaining while the Pirates have completed their league slate.

Around C-USA:

Charlotte, ranked 12^th nationally, had a tougher go than expected on Friday against a talented and 21^st ranked Cincinnati. The two teams battled to a double-overtime, scoreless draw. The 49ers then rebounded on Sunday to rout Louisville 6-1. Charlotte, which hosts the conference tournament, has clinched the regular season league title. Against Louisville, freshman sensation and C-USA leading scorer Courtney Crandell tallied twice and added an assist as Charlotte broke open the game with four second half goals...The draw with Charlotte took its toll on Cincinnati as the Bearcats were beaten on Sunday by Saint Louis, 2-1. Jamie Perry set a Saint Louis single-season goals record with her 12^th and helped the Billikens hand the Bearcats their first defeat in C-USA in 23 outings and giving SLU great confidence heading into its clash at to Charlotte on Friday. The Billikens also knocked off Louisville, 2-0, getting the game winner from freshman Kelly Ferguson…In addition to tying the Pirates, DePaul also picked up a win, of the non-league variety, in a 3-1 dismantling of Valparaiso. Margo Sackmaster, who scored and added an assist to lead the Blue Demons…The Houston-Tulane match was rained out and will be made up at a later date. The break must have been needed for Houston as the Cougars came out and scored a big win against Memphis, 1-0, on the strength of a Nikki Hawkins goal in the closing minutes of regulation…Marquette got a goal from Kate Gordon to help secure a 1-1 draw with Wisconsin-Milwaukee…Memphis freshman Nicky McLeod scored twice – once in each half – to lead the Tigers to a 4-0 rout of struggling Texas Christian. The win was one of three shutout victories for Memphis in the last four outings…It took two overtime periods, but South Florida got the win as senior midfielder Tia Opliger in the 103^rd minute to defeat Southern Miss. The Bulls followed up the win with another in a hard-fought battle over UAB, 2-1, again in two overtime periods. Kim Martins’ tally in the 107^th minute was the difference for the Bulls…Tulane got a 4-0 win over TCU to grab three more C-USA points. Colleen Lake scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Green Wave…UAB got nine – count them – nine to demolish Jackson State. Adrienne Suffridge and Tara Kidwell each scored twice for UAB to lead the offensive assault.

The Tally Sheet:

The following table lists the Conference USA scoring leaders as of 29-Oct-2002:

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