After another upset against a nationally-ranked opponent, East Carolina jumped into college football’s top 25 at No. 14 in the Associated Press poll and No. 20 in the USA Today poll. On Saturday in Greenville, the Pirates beat No. 8 West Virginia 24-3. A week ago, ECU beat Virginia Tech.

The win against the Mountaineers was ECU’s first win against a top-10 school since a win against Miami (Fla.) in 1999. Last year, the Pirates lost to the Mountaineers in Morgantown 48-7. East Carolina is the first Conference USA school to be nationally ranked since UTEP in Nov. 2005.

The Pirates (2-0) travel to face Tulane this coming Saturday.

Former Warrior catches first TD

Kent State sophomore tight end Jonathan Simpson (Nansemond River/Hargrave Military) caught a touchdown pass for the Golden Flashes during Kent State’s 48-28 loss at Iowa St. on Saturday.

Simpson caught an 11-yard pass to score, making it 28-21 ISU late in the first half. Simpson caught two passes for 19 yards on the night. The touchdown was Simpson’s first of his college career.

Kent St. (0-2) hosts Delaware St. on Saturday.

Field hockey notes

No. 7 James Madison lost to No. 3 Wake Forest 3-1 on Sunday in Winston-Salem, N.C. JMU gained a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the game, but the Demon Deacons scored in the 17th, then the 21st minute, to go in front.

Junior Kelsey Cutchins (Lakeland) made six saves in goal for JMU. Her younger sister, freshman Lindsay Cutchins, was one of three substitutes who saw playing time for the Dukes. JMU dropped to 2-1.

Virginia Commonwealth and Radford met on Sunday during a tournament at Davidson, with VCU claiming a 5-2 victory.

Junior Ashley Aston (Nansemond River) tallied an assist for VCU. Freshman back Lynsey Daughtrey (Lakeland) made her fourth start in four matches for Radford.

VCU improved to 3-1 while the Highlanders dropped to 0-4.

On the court

Lynchburg sophomore Michelle Boucher (Nansemond-Suffolk) has played in all eight of the Hornets’ matches so far this season. Lynchburg (4-4) dropped two matches this weekend, a four-game match against Piedmont and a five-game match against Greensboro. Boucher recorded eight kills in each match and is averaging 4.6 kills per match for the season.

McDaniel split two matches on Saturday at the Battlefield Classic at Gettysburg College, beating Eastern Mennonite (21-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 15-10) and losing to Galludet (25-15, 25-17, 16-25, 25-23).

In the match against Eastern Mennonite, Kristen Nuckles (Nansemond-Suffolk) had 46 assists, 13 digs and two aces. Against Galludet, Nuckles, a sophomore, had 17 assists, 10 digs and three aces. McDaniel is 4-3.