GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina soccer team opened the floodgates with a 4-0 crushing of the George Mason Patriots before the fifth-largest crowd in Johnson Stadium history on Thursday night. Samantha Moxie, Jazmin Ferguson, Brooke Burzynski and Elsa Stedman all found the back of the net in the win.

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 The Pirates were dominant on Thursday as they outshot George Mason 27-2 for the game, constantly playing on the front foot as they finally broke through with their first goal of the season in the 36th minute. It was Moxie who finally struck goal, cutting back to her right past a defender and driving a right-footed shot into the top left corner from comfortably beyond the 18-yard box. Scoring on the feed from Burzynski, the junior forward gave the goalkeeper no chance as she pushed the Pirates in front.
 
It continued to be chances galore for ECU as the Pirates took the 1-0 margin into halftime and it stayed that way coming out of the break.
 
In the 48th minute Juliana Viera struck one of the Pirates 13 corner kicks in the game where it landed in the box at the feet of Moxie again. Instead of doing it herself this time, Moxie played a precision heel flick back to Ferguson who drilled the ball into the goal for the 2-0 lead. The goal for Ferguson was the second of her career after her game-winner into the same goal against Houston a season ago.
 
The Pirates extended the lead to 3-0 on a scrappy goal in the 70th minute when Stedman headed the ball to Burzynski near the top of the 18 where she fired to the lower left corner of the goal. George Mason keeper Ginny Fronk initially got a stop to the shot but the shot spun back off of her punch and off the post for the goal.
 
The final goal of the game was a beauty in the 84th minute. It was Stedman who followed up her first career assist with her first career goal and it was worthy of all superlatives. The freshman collected the ball in the center of the field and launched a shot from deep. Stedman judged the touch right and her left-footed attempt floated stunningly into the very upper left corner of the net where Fronk was unable to tip it out. Ella Steck made the assist on the goal thanks to tremendous effort and pure speed to not only force a Patriots turnover but collect the ball and find the open teammate.
 
For their part, the East Carolina back line along with goalkeeper Maeve English were fantastic in the game. English made saves on both Mason shots for her 14th clean sheet of her career.
 
Key Stats

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The Pirates will be back in action at 3 p.m. on Sunday as they travel to Buies Creek, N.C. to take on Campbell.