GREENVILLE, N.C. - The stout defense of East Carolina proved to be too much for the Lancers, who suffered 12-7 setback to the Pirates on Wednesday night at Johnson Stadium.
 
Longwood entered the game averaging 20.5 goals per game over their previous two contests, but struggled to find their offense against an East Carolina squad that has allowed just 9.2 goals per game in 2020. The Lancers entered the game the best in Division I women's lacrosse in clear percentage (.967), but struggled to take care of the ball Wednesday night, totaling six failed clears and 19 turnovers against a stifling East Carolina defense.
 
Preseason All-AAC pick Ally Stanton, who led the Pirates in points a season ago, tallied four goals and an assist to lead East Carolina on offense. All-Big South first team attacker Kaitlin Luccarelli collected four goals on eight shots for Longwood—the senior entered the game averaging the second most shots in the nation with 9.33 attempts per game. In total, East Carolina held edges of 33-19 in shots, and 23-14 in shots on goal.
 
In goal for Longwood, sophomore Danielle Burke set career-best marks in both saves and save percentage, stopping 14 of the 26 shots she faced for a .538 save percentage clip. East Carolina's Ashley Vernon made nine saves for the second-consecutive game to improve to 4-1 in her freshman season with the Pirates—the Medford, N.J. native was recently named AAC Defensive Player of the Week for Feb. 17-23 after a nine-save performance in East Carolina's 12-11 win over Campbell.

"We didn't come to play today on the road with the high amount of energy we needed to face a tenacious East Carolina team and they took advantage of it," said head coach Elaine Jones. "We need to do a better job of bouncing back from a tough loss and focusing on the game in front of us rather than the game behind us.

"Dani [Burke] had a great day in goal, helping keep us in the game as the defense rallied around her and she stopped multiple shots, especially in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, the offense couldn't capitalize and generate enough goals on their end to get us back in the game."
 
With the win, East Carolina (4-1) set a new program-best in the team's short history with four-consecutive victories—the inaugural season of the Pirates women's lacrosse program kicked off on Feb. 10, 2018 against George Washington.
 
East Carolina grabbed the first three goals of the game, as Stanton's goal with 19:47 remaining in the first half gave the Pirates a 3-0 advantage. Freshman Kaylen Karnes broke the ice for Longwood at the 16:18 mark, as she joined Lucarelli as the only Lancers to tally goals in all four games of the 2020 season.
 
Leading 7-2 at the break, Stanton quickly added two goals, both on free position shots, to extend the Pirates lead to a game-high seven goals with 29:24 to go. Longwood would rally to score five of the final seven goals of the game, but were unable to get within more than four, as they fell by a final score of 12-7.
 
"Once we have both sides playing at the same high level for a full game, we will see the positive result," added Jones.

Longwood returns to Farmville, Va. Saturday, Feb. 29 for a clash with commonwealth-foe Old Dominion. The opening draw is set for 1 p.m.
 
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