College of Charleston 3, Elon 2
ELON, N.C. ? Jeremy Gold scored his 11th and 12th goals of the season to help lead the College of Charleston Cougars (9-6-1, 3-2-0 Southern Conference) to a 3-2 men’s soccer victory over the Elon Phoenix (8-7-2, 2-3-1) on a chilly Saturday night from Rudd Field. Gold entered the contest as the SoCon’s leading scorer.
After a scoreless first half, the teams erupted for five second stanza markers. The first came at 48:27 off the foot of Charleston’s Darren Toby. The play was set up when Miles Alden-Dunn took a free kick from near midfield. The ball was then headed by Scott Milroth to Toby who beat Elon’s Taylor Saxe for the game’s first score. The goal was Toby’s fourth of the campaign.
Elon’s Kiki Willis evened the score at one at 64:31 when he passed the ball to Nick Aparicio who fed the ball back to Willis for the equalizer. Willis now leads the Phoenix with seven goals this season.
Gold put the Cougars back on top at 75:21 when his free kick sailed into the net. At 84:04, Gold pushed the Charleston advantage to 3-1 when he and Toby played a give-and-go for the score.
The Phoenix pulled back with in one just 26 seconds later when Matt Bengston crossed the ball from the left corner to Aaron Parker who netted his first goal of the year at 84:30.
Elon kept up the pressure for the final 5:30 of play, controlling the ball for most of that time, but the Phoenix was unable to capitalize and tallied just two shots during that time.
Saxe stopped five Cougar shots on the night, while Corbin Waller collected two saves for College of Charleston.
Both teams attempted 12 total shots, but the Cougars held an 8-5 advantage in shots on goal. Elon earned five corner kicks to four for Charleston.
Elon will play its final SoCon game of the season on Oct. 18 when the Phoenix hosts Wofford at 7:00 p.m. College of Charleston will visit Furman at 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 17.
Furman 4, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Two goals in each half and an aggressive offensive attack were enough as visiting Furman scored a 4-0 victory at Snyder Field against Wofford in men's soccer action Saturday night in Spartanburg, S.C.
The Paladins took control of possession after the Terriers showed a quick strike three and a half minutes into the game. Senior Brandon Lowery just missed giving Wofford (2-12-1, 0-6 SoCon) the early 1-0 lead when he nearly scored to the near post on a cross from the left side by classmate Joel Kozak.
Furman then responded by scoring its first tally at 16:58 when Mark Futrell, dribbling near the end line, sent a ball back to Chris Davis who was standing inside the six-yard box. Davis redirected the pass past Terrier goalkeeper Russ Sandifer.
Later in the first half, the Paladins struck again, as Shea Salinas sent a long pass to Davis down the left flank. Davis then passed the ball across through the Wofford defense to Rob Victor, who then headed the ball off the ground and over the head of Sandifer at 23:23.
The Terriers seemed to come out more aggressively early in the second half, but Furman (8-5-1, 3-1-1 SoCon) did not back down from the challenge. The best Wofford scoring chance in the second half came at 81:10 when Callum Easter sent a direct kick off the head of Kyle Walker, only to be saved point-blank by backup Paladin keeper Derek Gleason.
Furman added its two second half scores late. Takato Ban sent a long serve on the right side to Robert Hunter, who raced past the Terrier defense and made one move to get around a charging Sandifer before finding the back of the net at 86:45.
Hunter later added his second mark on the scoreboard, at 88:39, when Kevin Traynor crossed the ball and it deflected off Hunter's leg just under the crossbar. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and fell straight down just inside the goal line.
The visitors held a 25-6 shot advantage and an 11-0 edge on corner kicks. Sandifer stopped 10 Furman shots, while the Paladins' starting keeper Bryan Amos registered two saves before being relieved for the final 9:31 by Gleason.
Wofford will close its road and Southern Conference regular-season slate with a 4 p.m. Wednesday match at Elon.
UNC Greensboro 1, High Point 0
GREENSBORO, NC ? Scott Jones’ fourth goal of the season came with just
14:03 left on the clock and was the only tally of the night as UNC Greensboro guaranteed itself a 28th consecutive winning season, defeating backyard rival High Point, 1-0, in men’s soccer action Saturday night
The Spartans (10-5-1) won their 10th match of the season, the 27th consecutive season of 10 or more wins. UNCG last failed to win 10 matches in 1979. UNCG has not had a losing record since 1978. It is also the 31st consecutive winning season for Spartan head coach Michael Parker, who has never had a season below .500 in his coaching career.
Jones’ tally came when he hit a shot from 25 yards out that almost immediately deflected off a defender’s foot and redirected through the box into the bottom left corner of the goal. The Dallas, TX native and two-time All-American who was honored prior to the game as part of Senior Night festivities now has 81 points in his career.
Freshman goalkeeper Nate Berry earned the win for UNCG, recording six saves for his fourth shutout of the season.
High Point, which had come into the match 3-1-1 in its last five outings, dropped to 4-7-3 on the season.
UNCG returns to action on Wednesday night when they visit Top 10-ranked Wake Forest at 7 pm.