Appalachian State 1, Radford 0
RADFORD, Va. - Appalachian State University and Radford played nearly 67 minutes of scoreless soccer until junior Tim Bender (Charlotte, N.C./Vance) converted on a penalty kick to move the Mountaineers to 2-1 on the season. The loss is the Highlanders’ first of the season as they are 2-1 as well.
“We probably played our best half of soccer this season in the first half and didn’t come away with anything to show for it,” said head coach Paul Stahlschmidt “We didn’t play as well in the second half, but ended up with more chances. Radford is a good team and this was a good team win for us.”
With the score knotted at 0-0, Bender had the last defender beat before he was pulled down in the box and awarded the penalty kick that he ultimately scored on.
George Nagle (Williamsburg, Va./Hampton Road Academy) and Alec Dufty (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) combined for the shutout after Nagle left the game with an injury in the 32nd minute. Dufty recorded two saves for the Apps in his first collegiate appearance.
Elon 6, High Point 1
ELON, N.C. - Freshman Kiki Willis recorded his first career hat trick, scoring Elon’s first three goals, as the Phoenix raced to a 6-1 non-conference men’s soccer victory over High Point on Saturday afternoon at Rudd Field. Elon has started the season 4-0-0 for the first time since beginning the 1988 season 5-0-0. The four victories for the Phoenix also equals last season’s win total. High Point fell to 0-4-0.
Willis (pictured right) scored his first goal of the day at the 15:34 mark, collecting a header from Douglas Boateng and beating the Panther keeper one-on-one. Fabyan Saxe also notched an assist on the score. Later in the first half, Willis took a feed from Aaron Parker and found the back of net for the second time. Brett Paschall also tallied an assist on the goal at 36:24.
Wills struck for goal number three on the day, and number five on the year, about eight minutes into the second half when he headed a cross from Will Mason into the goal. Nearly four minutes later, the Phoenix pushed its margin to 4-0 when Brennan Farrell took a pass from Paschall and scored. At 61:37 Parker scored his first collegiate goal on assists from Eric Sass and Tim Sullivan. Parker was in on Elon’s sixth goal of the day at 63:57 when he fed Farrell who scored for the second time on the afternoon.
The Panthers ended the Elon shutout bid at 72:40 when Dan Haywood’s free kick deflected off a defender and found the back of the net, ending the scoring on the day.
Taylor Saxe played 63:57 in front of the goal for Elon and did not have to make a save on the day. Kyle Boerner finished the game in goal for the Phoenix and allowed the Panther goal and made no saves. Adam Ross made four saves for High Point while allowing all six scores.
Elon held a dominating 17-5 advantage in total shots as well as a 10-1 edge in shots on goal. The Phoenix also took seven corner kicks to only two for High Point.
"I thought we played well today," said Elon coach Darren Powell. "Our passing and movement was better again today. It was nice to see the ball hit the back of the net a couple of times. This group has a very tough week ahead of them and if we can continue to work hard, hopefully we can play this well again."