Shorthanded Mean Green Draw With East Carolina - University of North Texas Athletics

Thursday, October 22

Greenville, NC

6 PM

University of North Texas

4-6-5, 0-3-4

East Carolina

3-4-9, 2-2-4

Team	1	2	Final F
North Texas	2	0	2
East Carolina	1	1	2

10/22/2026 8:47:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Niedermeier Has Second Straight Two-Goal Outing

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Mean Green soccer team couldn't have had a much better start on Thursday in a crucial road match against East Carolina, but they had to play with 10 players for the final 43 minutes of the match en route to a 2-2 draw.

Junior forward Claire Niedermeier followed up her brace last week against Rice with another two goals on Thursday, opening the scoring in the 10th minute and winning a 50-50 ball with the ECU goalkeeper to put away another goal in an empty net in the 13th minute to give UNT (4-6-5, 0-3-4) an early 2-0 lead.

The Pirates (3-6-9, 2-2-4) quickly cut the Mean Green lead in half on a penalty kick in the 15th minute and sent the game to halftime with UNT leading 2-1 with the momentum squarely in its corner after outshooting ECU 13-4 in the first half.

Two minutes into the second half, the momentum shifted when junior defender Hannah Phillips was shown a red card after a VAR review for pulling an ECU player's hair in a scrum on a Mean Green corner kick.

That meant UNT had to play with just 10 players for the remainder of the match, and ECU found the equalizer in the 57th minute.

In all, UNT outshot ECU 18-11 and put eight shots on frame. The Mean Green also hit the post three times, but couldn't find a game-winner. It was also a physical game with 21 total fouls, the red card and three yellows — one for ECU's A.J. Mayock and one apiece for Niedermeier and UNT assistant coach Neal Ozmun.

"Really proud of our team tonight," head coach John Hedlund said. "Even a player down, I thought we were the better side. We faced plenty of adversity — including hitting the post a few times — but our women never gave up. They kept fighting for the entire 90 minutes, and for that alone, I couldn't be prouder of every single one of them."

Niedermeier now has 13 goals on the season after entering the night in a tie for 14th in the country in total goals (11) — five behind the nation's leader — and a tie for first in the American.

The Mean Green will return home on Sunday for a 1 p.m. kick against Memphis — their first home game since October 8.