App State Soccer Hosts ECU for Senior Day

OPENING KICK: App State Soccer opens the month of September at home, as the team hosts cross-state foe East Carolina, Thursday at 4 p.m. It's Senior Day at The Valley and the Mountaineers will honor seniors Aleesia Ambrosio, Shannon Studer and Reagan Sturgill in a pre-match ceremony at 3:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS: App State is 3-2 on the season, after dropping a road match at Clemson on Sunday. The Mountaineers started the season with three straight wins – defeating two-time reigning conference champion Western Carolina, earning the program's first ACC victory with a 1-0 triumph over Miami and handing Davidson its first loss of the season. Ellie Garrison has led the team with four goals through the first five games, including a brace in the season opener against the Catamounts. Kyli Switalski has added a pair of goals, highlighted by an olimpico goal on Aug. 21 against Davidson, where she curled the ball into the net off a corner kick. Defensively, App State has notched two shutouts this season and three of its six goals allowed have come off opponent penalty kicks.
 
SCOUTING THE PIRATES: East Carolina is 1-2-2 on the season, most recently coming off a 1-1 draw against UNCW last Thursday. Their lone win this season came in a 4-0 victory over VCU, while they also posted a tie against NC State. Sophomore forward Caitlen-Star Dolan Boodram leads the attack with three goals and one assist this season, while senior midfielder Isabella Gutiérrez has also added a pair of goals. Senior defender Sofia Serrano has played every minute of every match this season in the field, while junior goalkeeper Olivia Dietrich has started all five matches in net. ECU was picked fourth out of 11 teams in the American Conference this season and Dolan Boodram, Gutiérrez and Juliana Viera were all named preseason all-conference. The team went 10-4-7 a season ago and 5-2-3 in conference play, taking down top-ranked Memphis in double overtime in the conference championship match to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Despite both being in the state of North Carolina and separated by just over four hours, App State and East Carolina are meeting for just the third time in program history and the first time since 1997. App State fell 1-0 in Greenville in 1997 after the two programs played to a 1-1 draw in the Puma Classic in Asheville, N.C. in 1996. App State and ECU have matched up in football three times in the last five years (Duke's May Bowl in Charlotte in 2021, in Boone in 2023 and in Greenville in 2024 – all App State wins). The two programs also announced a four-year series in men's basketball beginning Dec. 11 in Greenville.
 
ELITE ELLIE: Sophomore attacker Ellie Garrison was named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 19, following three goals – including two game-winners – in the opening week of play. Garrison added to that total with a fourth-minute goal on Aug. 21 against Davidson in which she went between the legs of the Wildcats goalkeeper. Garrison leads the Sun Belt and ranks tied for third in the nation with three game-winning goals this season. She is tied for second in the league in goals (4), tied for fourth in points (8), tied for sixth in shots on goal (8) and tied for ninth in overall shots (11). Garrison scored a penalty kick goal in the first half and a game-winner with 1:09 to play in regulation in a 3-2 win over Western Carolina on Aug. 14 for her second career brace. Aug. 17 against Miami, Garrison scored the game's lone goal on a penalty kick with 11 minutes to play.
 
A second team All-Sun Belt selection as a true freshman in 2024, Garrison has quickly earned accolades to begin her sophomore campaign. She earned Preseason All-Sun Belt honors, being named a national Midfielder to Watch by United Soccer Coaches and was selected to the Top Drawer Soccer Women's Team of the Week for the first week of the season. The Trinity, N.C. native played and started all 19 games in her first season in Boone, registering four goals and five assists. Her combined 13 points were the most by an App State freshman in the Sun Belt era. Garrison was named an All-Southeast Region selection following the season and was ranked as the 49th-best freshman in the country by Top Drawer Soccer.
 
INCREDIBLE IZZI: Graduate student Izzi Wood returns for her final season of eligibility in 2025 and leads the team with two assists through three games this season. The sixth-year standout has played 75 matches across five seasons – which is tied for tenth-most in program history – despite missing the 2021 campaign due to injury. Wood is coming off a career-high 11 goals in 2024, which matched the single-season program record. She enters the 2025 campaign with 26 career tallies, five away from setting the App State career goals record, currently held by Casey Cleary (2005-08). Last season Wood led the Sun Belt in shots (80) and shots on goal (41) while ranking third in the conference in goals scored (11) and in points (23). She also finished the season tied for third in the league in game-winning goals (3). Wood has been named All-Sun Belt and All-Southeast Region each of the past two seasons and was picked to the Sun Belt preseason all-conference team this season for the second straight year. Wood's assist against Davidson on Thursday gave her 60 career points which moved her into fourth place all-time. She also ranks second all-time with 232 shots.
 
KICKIN' IT WITH KYLI: Redshirt sophomore Kyli Switalski has scored two goals through the first five games of the season, equaling her career high. The High Point, N.C. native scored the team's first goal of the season, in the 10th minute at Western Carolina. She then scored an incredible "olímpico" goal where she bent a corner kick into the back of the net against Davidson on Aug. 21. Switalski scored two goals and added three assists last season after sitting out her true freshman year while recovering from injury.
 
LET'S PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999: App State's 3-0 start matched its best start in program history, joining the 1999 team as the only other team to accomplish that feat. App State's win over Miami marked the program's second power conference win and first against an ACC opponent.
 
HAYWOOD AT THE HELM: In her fourth season, head coach Aimee Haywood has posted the best winning percentage of any coach in program history. Despite being picked to finish 13th out of 14 teams in the 2022 preseason poll, Haywood guided her team to a seventh-place finish in her first season. In 2023, despite being picked to finish eighth, the Mountaineers finished in third place, their best conference finish in program history. Haywood has helped the Mountaineers to back-to-back winning seasons in Sun Belt play for the first time since 2014-15. Haywood helped the Mountaineers to a scoreless draw at NC State last season and recorded the program's first power conference victory since 2016 with their win over Miami on Aug. 17. In four seasons under head coach Aimee Haywood, App State has recorded 20 shutouts, highlighted by eight in 2023.
 
PROTECTING THE VALLEY: In Aimee Haywood's three seasons at the helm, the Mountaineers have been stout at home, compiling a record of 16-5-6 (.704), and outscoring their opponents 44-23 at The Valley over that span. The Mountaineers posted a program-best 13-match unbeaten streak from Oct. 14, 2022, through Aug. 29, 2024.
 
FINDING TWINE: The App State offense has increased its scoring output in each of the past two seasons, scoring 27 goals (1.42 goals per game) in 2024, their best output since scoring 31 goals (1.55 goals per game) in 2016. App State returns each of its top five goal scorers (Izzi Wood, Ellie Garrison, Kyli Switalski, Shannon Studer and Olivia Simon) from a season ago. So far in 2025 the Mountaineers are averaging 1.2 goals per game.
 
FRESH FACES: App State has added 10 newcomers (all freshmen) into the fold in 2025. Four of those players are international, coming from England, Scotland and Sweden. Maddie Williams (Birmingham, England) was an early enrollee and participated in spring competition and has played all but two minutes through the first four matches of the season. Freshmen Lucy Harrington (Miami) and Morgan Chapman (William & Mary) have also earned starts for App State. Redshirt freshman Anna Claire Jacobi has posted two shutouts in her first five career starts in net, while freshman goalkeeper Hanna Skogsfors made her first collegiate appearance in relief against Clemson. Of the 17 returners, nine saw at least one start in 2024.
 
UP NEXT: The Mountaineers will next take the field on Sunday, Sept. 7 when the team travels to Farmville, Va. to take on Longwood. The Lancers are 3-3 on the season and play host to Western Carolina on Thursday. Sunday's match is set for 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.