Less than 48 hours after one of its most frustrating losses of the season, Colorado College shook off the disappointment and roared right back into the Conference USA playoff picture.

The Tigers exploded for three goals in the first 33 minutes of play on Sunday, rallying from an early 1-0 deficit and holding on for a 3-2 victory at East Carolina University.

Freshman midfielder Madison Whitehead scored a goal and assisted on the game winner by senior forward Tiffany Brown as CC pulled into a three-way tie with ECU and Marshall University for seventh place in the league standings. All three teams are 4-5-1 in C-USA play, one point behind sixth-place UAB (4-4-2), with one match remaining.

The top six earn berths in the conference's post-season tournament.

East Carolina, which could have eliminated Colorado College by winning, struck first in Sunday's contest when Amanda Malkiewicz converted off a pass from Leah Bagonis at the 7:53 mark. 

Whitehead tied things up on a free kick from 23 yards out less than four minutes later, at 11:27, before freshman Lauren DiGregorio put the Tigers ahead to stay on a breakaway at 21:31.

"We came out in the first half and played with intensity," said head coach Geoff Bennett. "We attacked and finished our chances. It was nice to see."

Whitehead and Brown teamed up on a give-and-go at 32:27, with Brown finding the lower right corner of the net after taking a return pass in front of ECU goalkeeper Christiane Cordero.

The 3-1 cushion held up until the Pirates pulled to within a goal on Hali Oughton's header with 5:44 left in the match.

Junior keeper Caitlin Hulyo finished with five saves for CC while backstopping her 24th career victory. Colorado College improved to 8-6-4 overall.

Because the Tigers now would win a potential tiebreaker with ECU but not with Marshall, they need to defeat UTEP in next Friday's regular-season finale, and have the Pirates beat the Thundering Herd and UAB lose to Memphis, to earn their fifth consecutive C-USA post-season berth.

"We're happy with today's performance," Bennett said. "Now we need to carry that momentum into our game with UTEP. We know we have to win, and hopefully we'll get some help from the other teams."