Elon 1, Davidson 0
ELON, NC - Gabe Loducca scored the first goal of his career at 70:51 to send Elon to a 1-0 men’s soccer Southern Conference victory over visiting Davidson on Saturday afternoon. The win lifted the Phoenix to 7-6-2 overall and 3-0-1 in SoCon play. The defeat was the first in league action and snapped a four-game winning streak for the Wildcats who dipped to 10-5-1, 3-1-0.
The scoreless first half saw a total of six shot by the two teams, three of which were on goal, as neither team could muster much offense.
Loducca final broke through for the game’s only score in the 71st minute when Brett Paschall crossed a ball from the corner that Loducca blasted past the Wildcat keeper.
Taylor Saxe snared eight saves for Elon to record his fifth shutout of the season and his second consecutive blanking. Davidson’s Ben Ashton made two saves on the afternoon, but allowed the one goal.
The very physical game featured 38 total fouls (Davidson 23, Elon 15), six yellow cards and one red card. The Wildcats earned nine corners to only one for Elon and held a 13-8 edge in total shots.
Elon coach Darren Powell stated, “The boys are really excited. We’ve been training hard all year and today it paid off. Davidson is a very good and well coached team.
“We still have three conference games remaining and we need to refocus and get ready to play the final stretch of the season.”
Wofford 1, High Point 0
SPARTANBURG, SC ? Wofford scored with just over a minute to play to post a 1-0 win over High Point in men’s soccer action Saturday night at Snyder Field.
R.P. Benik headed in a corner kick by Jesus Arroyo-Peco at the 88:58 mark as Wofford snapped improved to 4-9-2 on the season.
Wofford’s Joey Taylor made seven saves while High Point’s Adam Ross had three saves. High Point outshot the Terriers 12-11 on the evening while Wofford held a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
“I thought the first half, I had we had some good possessions and the better of the play,” said Wofford head coach Matt Kern. “In the second half, I thought High Point had the better of the play. We scored a great goal and won a match that could’ve gone either way.”
Benik’s mid-goal header was his first of the year. Arroyo-Peco’s assist was his team-leading fourth of the season.
UNC Greensboro 3, College of Charleston 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? Michael FitzGerald scored a pair of goals and Hermann Award candidate Randi Patterson had a goal and two assists to complete a dominant effort as UNC Greensboro blanked College of Charleston, 3-0, in Southern Conference men’s soccer action Saturday night at UNCG Soccer Stadium.
The win put UNCG back on top of the SoCon after losing its grip on first place for a few hours on Saturday. Elon had jumped into first place with a 1-0 win over Davidson earlier in the day. The Spartans (11-3-0, 4-0-0) now have 12 points in the SoCon standings to Elon’s 10. The two teams finish the regular season against each other at Elon on November 2.
College of Charleston, which had a share of first place along with Davidson and UNCG when the day started, fell to 7-7-2 overall, 3-3-0 in SoCon action.
On Saturday, UNCG dominated the match nearly from start to finish. The Spartans held a 27-6 advantage in shots and College of Charleston struggled to get its offense going, hampered by 11 offsides calls.
UNCG keeper Jay Benfield recorded his seventh shutout of the season and extended his scoreless string. The senior from Lewisville, NC has yet to allow a goal in the month of October and extended his shutout streak to 507:12. He last allowed a goal in a 1-0 overtime loss at then No. 2-ranked North Carolina on September 27.
Patterson opened the scoring at 29:55 when he scored his 11th goal of the season. Scott Jones, another candidate for the Hermann Award, dribbled through a crowd and fed Patterson just inside the 18. The junior from Hackensack, NJ made a move to his left and hit a blast from 12 yards out into the net for a 1-0 Spartan advantage.
The score remained that way until 56:59. Casey Davis tried to feed Patterson in the box, who was busy fighting off two defenders. Patterson dribbled to the left side of the box, drawing the defense with him, and then fed the ball back into the box. FitzGerald was waiting for the feed and put a header from 10 yards out just under the crossbar to make a 2-0 lead.
Patterson and FitzGerald struck again in the waning minutes. FitzGerald, a senior from Wilmington, NC who also had a goal in UNCG's 6-1 win over High Point on Wednesday, passed to Patterson on a give-and-go. Patterson put the ball back towards the goal and FitzGerald chipped it in from four yards out to close out the scoring.