As the month of November begins to wind down, the highly anticipated football season comes to a close.  The football Pirates wrap up their season this Saturday at home against UAB.  East Carolina preserved a chance to finish the conference season with a .500 record with a win on the road against Marshall last week.  If ECU wins Saturday, it would be its first .500 mark in conference play since 2001.

As the temperatures drop and the leaves turn, so turns our focus in sports.  Of course, Pirate basketball is next on the agenda in most people’s minds.  However, with a new coaching staff, and the loss of Moussa Badiane and Mike Cook, the top two scorers from a year ago, few are confident that this season will be any more successful. However, a career performance in the Pirate opener by Corey Rouse may have captured some fans’ attention.  Rouse scored a career high for points and rebounds with 35 and 17 respectively. 
   
Rouse will be relied upon heavily in his senior season, as the Pirates will look for a proven post presence inside.  Currently there are no centers listed on the Pirate roster, following the news that freshman Justin Ramsey was declared ineligible. 
   
Other stories gaining interest recently include other Pirate teams.  The ECU volleyball team wrapped up their best season since 1982 with a loss to UTEP in the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament.  The Pirates finished 20-11 overall. The team went 24-13 in 1982.

The ECU swimming and diving team has also grabbed some headlines at the Nike Cup. Chris Lebenau highlighted Pirate accolades by reaching the super finals of the 100-yard butterfly.  He placed second overall and set an ECU varsity record time of 0:48.81.  Matt Donahue also reached the finals and placed ninth.  Greg Neville also finished 8th in the finals of the men’s 100-yard backstroke.  Kelly Shinton, EC Moore, and Allison Miller all reached the Women’s finals in the 100-yard backstroke.