ECU Athletic Media Relations

GREENVILLE — Sophomore forward Lana Spitler scored her third goal of the season, but UConn scored a golden goal with just 41 seconds remaining in the first overtime period as the East Carolina women’s soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision in its American Athletic Conference opener Thursday evening at Johnson Soccer Stadium.

Making her second career start, senior goalkeeper Erika Lenns made a personal-best seven saves in the match, while senior midfielder Lexi Herring took a career-high five shots, two of which were on goal, and recorded her first-career assist.

The first half included a tough battle for possession in each teams’ midfields, as the Huskies found themselves as the aggressors for the greater portion of the period. Connecticut was able to rip off a handful of shots, two of which were stopped and gathered by Lenns, but the match remained scoreless through the first 45 minutes of action.

“I thought our forwards needed to be more aggressive trying to break their defensive line with runs,” head coach Rob Donnenwirth said. “We were making things too easy on them in the first half.”

UConn (8-2-1, 1-0-0 American) held a 4-1 advantage in shots and a 3-2 edge in corner kick chances. Herring took the Pirates’ lone shot in the period.

East Carolina (6-3-1, 0-1-0 American) opened up its offensive attack to start the second half, applying immense pressure to the Huskies’ defense. In the 56th minute, junior striker Kendall Frey took a feed on a pass up the right side, but her shot deflected off a UConn defender, caught the pursuing goalkeeper out of place and trickled just to the right of the right goal post.

The Pirates did not let up however, as Herring brought a ball up the left side before ripping a high line drive that struck the crossbar in the 58th minute. Spitler, a Montoursville, Pa., native, collected the rebound and settled the ball before punching home a shot into the top of the net for her fourth career goal, giving ECU a 1-0 lead.

UConn answered back in the 70th minute after Lenns turned aside a hard shot from just inside the top right corner of the goal box, but the Huskies collected the rebound on the opposite side of the field and sent a pass into the center of the Pirates’ defense, where Riley Houle hit a shot past Lenns to tie the game, 1-1.

Both sides had numerous scoring chances in the final 20 minutes of regulation, but neither was able to execute and put the score in their favor as the game moved to overtime.

“We did a lot of good things in the second half,” Donnenwirth said. “I thought we played hard the whole game, but we played a little bit smarter in the second half. There wasn’t a change of system, but it was a change in our attitude.”

ECU and UConn continued their respective relentless attacks on the offensive side of the ball through the first nine minutes of overtime, but the Huskies took advantage of a transition chance with under a minute remaining in the period. Andrea Plucenik ripped a shot off the crossbar with 45 seconds left on the clock, as Samantha McGuire gathered the rebound right in front of the Pirate goal and headed home a bouncing ball for the game-winner.

The Huskies held a 15-11 advantage in shots on the night and a 4-3 edge during overtime, while taking five corner kicks to the Pirates’ two.

“We just need to get rested for Temple, which is going to be another tough game,” Donnenwirth said. “Every game is going to be tough. We’re going to be ready to come back out for this next game and I have faith in them to do that.”

East Carolina will stay at home and host the Owls in its second conference match of the season Sunday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.