ECU lacrosse season ends with loss to Mercer

MACON, Ga. – The East Carolina lacrosse team fell to the Mercer Bears, 15-12, on Monday afternoon to conclude their 2024 season.

The Pirates got hat tricks from Ellie Bromley and Frances Kimel but were unable to hold off a hot second half from the hosts as Mercer pulled away to win.

The Pirates (4-12, 1-5 AAC) got off to a strong start in the game with Emily Stratton scoring the first goal just 1:59 into the game as she and Kimel went on to both tally a pair in the first quarter of play to give the team an early edge. Brynn Knight got the nod in goal and opened things strong with five first-quarter saves.

Knight did it again in the second quarter to hit the half with a whopping 10 saves in just 30 minutes played. In doing so, the Pirates were able to hold a two-goal edge at the halftime break, 8-6. Bromley struck for three goals in that second quarter while Erin Gulden added a score and Riley Matthiesen posted the team’s first assist of the game.

Mercer (10-6, 6-0 Big South) turned the table in the second half, posting an 8-0 run spanning the length of the third quarter and into the fourth when Regina Di Chiara finally put the Pirates on the board for the second half. By that point, the scoreboard read 14-9 with under 12 minutes to play and a tough hill to climb for the Pirates.

The Bears made a change in goal at the half which proved critical as Kayla Casey came in to post five saves while shutting down the ECU attack. Conversely, Knight was unable to match her first-half productivity, making just five saves in the second half.

The Pirates made one last-gasp effort at a comeback with Kimel scoring another pair of goals and Matthiesen putting one on the board to make it a three-goal game with under three minutes remaining. Kimel’s goals made her the first ECU player to score 30 or more goals in a season twice in a career. She finishes the season with 31 in 2024.

Yet, the Pirates wound up running out of time in the game as Mercer took the ensuing draw control and bled the clock down to under a minute remaining. To her credit, Knight did make one last save in the waning minutes of the game, but the Pirates were unable to collect the ensuing ground ball, allowing time to tick tantalizingly off the clock.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.