East Carolina University

East Carolina University Athletics
Ward Sports Medicine Bldg Greenville, NC 27858

Division 1 North Carolina Southeast

Public Very Large National competitor

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Coaches

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Emily Buccilla

Emily Buccilla (byoo-sil-ah) was named the sixth Head Coach in East Carolina Soccer history on Dec. 17, 2024. She had previously served as an assistant coach with the program for seven seasons.

At East Carolina – As Assistant

The Pirates saw a period of improved success with Buccilla on the staff as an assistant, with the team finally breaking through for an American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2024, the first in program history.

That season also saw six Pirates earn American postseason recognition and five earn All-Tournament honors, led by Annabelle Abbott and Maeve English who were named Tournament Most Outstanding Offensive and Defensive Players. The team’s 10-4-7 record for the year represented the best winning percentage for the program since 2008.

In 2023, the Pirates’ earned their first over-.500 record since the 2018 season with a 9-5-5 finish. The season also saw four players earn All-Conference recognition while Jazmin Ferguson became the first ECU player to earn player of the year honors since 2008 as she was named the 2023 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

In 2022, running out to a 5-2-1 record and earned votes in the United Soccer Coaches Poll for the first time in program history following a win at then-No. 19 SMU. The program earned six votes on Sept. 13 and seven votes on Sept. 20. Battling injuries, the Pirates would go on to an 8-8-3 record in 2022. That season, Buccilla helped guide three players to All-Conference honors and helped Jazmin Ferguson to the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year award, the second Pirate in a row to win the honor.

In 2021, Buccilla helped guide two Pirates to All-Conference honors and Haley McWhirter to the AAC Rookie of the Year award.

During the 2019 season, Buccilla helped two Pirates earn AAC postseason honors with goalkeeper Melanie Stiles and defender Kim Sanford both earning Second-Team All-AAC honors.

In her first season in Greenville, Buccilla helped guide the Pirates to a 10-6-3 record and an appearance in the AAC Championship Semifinals, marking the first time since 2014 that ECU had achieved those feats. Under her guidance, Jayda Hylton-Pelaia and Courtney Cash were named to the AAC All-Conference Second-Team while Grace Doran was named to the All-Conference Rookie Team.

Prior to East Carolina

Buccilla spent the prior four seasons as an assistant women's soccer coach at Stetson University.

Buccilla was specifically responsible for working with Stetson's attackers during her time in DeLand. Her work with Sarah Collins helped her turn in a historic season in 2015 when she tied the school record with 12 goals and earned first-team All-Atlantic Sun Conference honors.

Prior to her time at Stetson, she served as the girls' head varsity coach at Canal Winchester High School in Winchester, Ohio. In addition to her duties at CWHS, Buccilla also coached the Barcelona Ohio FC U12 & U13 club teams.

Buccilla has been coaching since graduating from St. Bonaventure University with a bachelor's degree in visual arts in 2012. She spent one year as head coach of the U12 Pickerington (Ohio) Blast, and was the assistant girls track coach at Ridgeview Junior High and the junior varsity girls' soccer coach at Pickerington North High School.

Buccilla was a four-year letter winner and team captain at St. Bonaventure where she was part of the winningest senior class in SBU history - the first senior class to go to four straight Atlantic 10 Championships.

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Jake Dowiak

Dowiak was named as an assistant coach for the East Carolina soccer program on February 24, 2025.

Dowiak joins the Pirates after three seasons at St. Joe’s. While with the Hawks, he helped the team to the A-10 Semifinals in 2022 and 2024 while guiding two players to All-Rookie honors and one to First-Team All-Conference honors,

Dowiak came to Saint Joseph’s after serving as an assistant coach with Rutgers-Camden’s men’s team in 2021. In his season with the Scarlet Raptors, Dowiak helped the program advance to the semifinals of the ECAC Championship, while four student-athletes garnered NJAC postseason honors.

Along with experience at the collegiate level, Dowiak had coached at the ECNL level for 3 season with FC Delco Girls Program in Conshohocken, PA. Working primarily with the U19 team in each of his seasons, he helped the club prepare their oldest players prepare for their transitions into the collegiate game. He also holds a "C" license with the FAW and his "D" license with US Soccer, as he prepares to obtain his "C" license in the US.

Previously, Dowiak has served as an assistant coach with the Ocean City Nor’easters and spent four years as the assistant director of coaching for the Cherry Hill Football Club. He also led the boys’ soccer program as head coach of Bishop Eustace Preparatory for six years, leading the Crusaders to a pair of conference championships.

Dowiak earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Rutgers-Camden. He is supported by his wife, Jacki, and his two sons, Sebastian and Rome, who are all thrilled to be a part of Pirate Nation.

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Sydney Hall

Sydney Hall was named assistant coach for East Carolina soccer on August 11, 2023.

Hall's second season with the Pirates was one for the history books, culminating with the program's first American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and NCAA Tournament berth.

That season also saw six Pirates earn American postseason recognition and five earn All-Tournament honors, led by Annabelle Abbott and Maeve English who were named Tournament Most Outstanding Offensive and Defensive Players. The team’s 10-4-7 record for the year represented the best winning percentage for the program since 2008.

In her first season in Greenville, Hall helped guide the Pirates to their first over-.500 record since 2018, finishing 9-5-5, while helping four players to All-Conference honors and Jazmin Ferguson to the 2023 American Athletic conference Defensive Player of the Year award.

Hall, a Sherrill's Ford, N.C. native, previously served as a graduate assistant coach at Columbus State University where she earned a master's degree in environmental science.

While at Columbus State, Hall helped lead the Cougars to two NCAA Tournament appearances and a Regional Championship in 2022 as they entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed. That season, she was part of the United Soccer Coaches’ Southeast Regional Coaching Staff of the Year as the team went 19-3-2.

In addition, she helped the Columbus St. program reach a pair of Peach Belt regular season championships. Individually, six players earned All-America honors, five were Academic All-Americans and she coached the 2022 Elite 90 award winner. In total, Columbus St. was 38-6-3 over two year stretch.

Prior to Columbus State, Hall, who was born in Denver, Colo. before moving to North Carolina, competed collegiately at Colorado State University where she was a goalkeeper from 2015-2019.

Outside of college athletics, Hall has also served as a goalkeeper coach with the United Soccer Club in Loveland, Colo. and as an assistant coach at Windsor High School.

Hall graduated from Columbus State University with a masters in Environmental Science after earning her undergraduate degree from Colorado State University with a bachelors in chemical engineering and minor in biomedical engineering.