Megan Greene battles for a ball with a Georgia opponent. Photo by Chris Crews

The Charlotte 49ers faced off against ECU Sunday, Sept. 9 in a showdown that got put away too early for the Niners in Greenville. Charlotte was outscored 3-0 by the Pirates, as their shots just weren’t landing the way they should have.

The Pirates capitalized early scoring a goal in the 11th minute of the first half and later scoring in the 39th minute thanks to Tori Riggs and Courtney Cash.

The pirates only brought more pressure to the field coming into the second half. East Carolina added fuel to the fire at the opening of the half by immediately scoring a heartbreaking goal off of a cross in to Cash, building more doubt in a Charlotte victory.

Missed opportunities were a big factor for the Charlotte 49ers throughout the game. Julia Grainda had a chance in the penalty box in the 17th minute, but could not win the battle with the ECU defender. Julia Honeycutt shot from afar, just going over the crossbar in the 36th minute and Megan Greene had the last two attempts of the day.

Although they were unable to rise above, the Niners left the game with a few ideas of what could have been different as well as what was done well.

The 49ers will be back at it and look to get back to the winning mentality on Sept. 16th at 1 p.m. when they face off against Conference-USA opponent Rice in Charlotte.