East Carolina Shuts Out Charlotte, 2-0
Pirates lifted by goals from Poole and Miller

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina women’s soccer team snapped a three-game skid with a 2-0 home victory over Charlotte to collect its first Conference USA victory of the 2013 season Sunday afternoon at the ECU Soccer Stadium.

East Carolina (4-5-2, 1-1-0 C-USA) opened the game in a relentless attack mode, while wasting no time applying pressure to Charlotte’s (6-4, 1-1 C-USA) defense. Redshirt junior Danielle Romano capitalized on the Pirates’ first corner kick of the game in the second minute, sending a perfect cross into the box that redshirt junior Skylar Poole headed into the net for her second goal of the season to give ECU an early 1-0 lead.

Both sides failed to produce many other scoring opportunities for the remainder of what turned into a relatively quiet first half, as the Pirates and 49ers each tallied three shots heading into the intermission.

“Getting that early goal took a lot of pressure off of us,” said head coach Rob Donnenwirth. “I thought we played really well in the beginning of the half, but I thought we struggled possession-wise, so it was key to hold on.”

The physical play picked up in the second half as nine whistles were blown for fouls in the period, opposed to just four in the first half.

While East Carolina’s defense remained stood tall by holding Charlotte to just one shot on goal on the afternoon, the Pirates added an insurance goal in the 77th minute when sophomore striker Kendall Frey sent a pass into the heart of the 49er defense from the left side to redshirt junior Lexi Miller. Miller made an outside move to her right and past a Charlotte defender, before firing a shot past a diving 49er goalkeeper and into the left corner of the goal to put East Carolina ahead, 2-0.

The goal was Miller’s third of the season, which leads all scorers on the team this season.

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Saundra Baron notched her second shutout of the season and made one save on the day.

ECU will take its show to Norfolk, Va., and Birmingham, Ala., for a pair of C-USA road games next weekend. The Pirates will face Old Dominion at 5 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 4, before taking on UAB at 1 p.m., on Sunday, Oct. 6.