Pirates fall to George Washington in inaugural lacrosse game

In their first ever NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse game, the East Carolina University Pirates dropped the season opener to George Washington University, 7-18 at Johnson Stadium on Saturday.

Despite the gloomy overcast in Greenville, fans still came out to support the players. Attendance was at a high of 584 people, where all watched freshman midfielder Casey Sullivan score the team’s first ever goal for the Pirates within the first three minutes of the game.

However, George Washington also scored its first two goals within the first two minutes of the game by senior midfielder Brooke Sands and senior attack Camaryn Kerns before Sullivan. GW also scored its third goal of the game unassisted by senior attack Jocelyn Donohue after Sullivan’s first goal.

Seven minutes later, Sullivan then assisted the second goal by freshman attacker Nicole Legar. Freshman attack Ally Stanton scored the third goal for the Pirates, 15 minutes into the game. GW proceeded to score six more goals back-to-back ending the first half with a score of 3-9 with the Pirates down by six.

The team went into the half hoping to fix mistakes of the first half. ECU freshman goalie Christina White stayed on the field during halftime to work on her reflexes in preparation for the second half. During the first half, GW went 9-for-11 in shots made on goal averaging to 81 percent for ECU’s White.

Sullivan came out of the gates determined for the Pirates, scoring the fourth goal for ECU, making the game 4-9. Stanton then scored ECU’s fifth goal followed up by Sullivan scoring the sixth. As the clock counted down, the Pirates continued to lose the ability to catch up as GW scored five goals in a row making the score 6-15 midway through the second half.

ECU’s Legar scored the teams seventh and final goal with an assist from freshman attacker Lily Avazis with two minutes left in the game. The Colonials, keeping their lead, scored an additional 3 goals, all unassisted by Sands, sophomore attack Caitlin Concannon and freshman midfielder Cescily-jo Wheeler. This ended the game 7-18 with a loss for the Pirates.

The Pirates made history in their first ever home lacrosse game, despite the team losing 7-18. With George Washington being the first test for ECU, the Pirates will have a chance to redeem themselves in their next match up against Winthrop University on Friday in Rock Hill, South Carolina.