INDIANAPOLIS – The East Carolina women’s soccer team learned their destination for the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance on Monday afternoon with the organization’s announcement of the 64-team bracket.
The Pirates are set to take on No. 3 seed South Carolina on Friday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.
Fans wishing to attend can purchase game tickets from the NCAA’s official website.
The Pirates earned their way into the tournament for the first time in the program’s 30-year history with a 1-0 2OT win over Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday. Annabelle Abbott scored the game-winning Golden Goal and was named tournament Most Outstanding Offensive Player as a result. Maeve English was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player and Erica Roberts, Sydney Schnell and Abby Sowa were named to the All-Tournament team.
The game will be the ninth all-time meeting between East Carolina and South Carolina with the Gamecocks holding a 8-0-0 edge dating back to the first meeting in 2002. South Carolina won the most recent meeting in Gary Higgins‘ first season at the helm of the Pirates in 2022 with a 2-0 result in Columbia. Of the eight all-time meetings, South Carolina has been ranked entering the game on five occasions. Entering postseason play, they are ranked No. 14 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and No. 18 in the TopDrawerSoccer Poll.
The Pirates are one of four team’s making their first NCAA appearance in this year’s tournament along with: California Baptist, Southern University, and University of South Carolina Upstate.
Be on the lookout later in the week for a full preview of Friday’s contest.