Men's Soccer Southern Conference

Elon Tops Radford 2-0 in Men's Soccer Action Sunday

ELON, N.C. ? The Elon duo of Matt Bengston and Nick Aparicio teamed up twice to give the Phoenix a 2-0 non-conference men’s soccer victory over the Radford Highlanders from Rudd Field on Sunday night. Bengston, a senior, scored both goals on assists from Aparicio on Senior Night. The victory put Elon at 10-7-2 on the year and secured the first-ever winning record at the NCAA Division I level for the program. Radford fell to 7-6-3 on the season.

Bengston and Aparicio played a give-and-go at the top of the box and Bengston beat Zach Roszel for his second goal of the season at 14:59.

The two hooked up again at 51:20 when Aparicio’s cross was banged home off the foot of Bengston. Later in the half, Bengston just missed the hat trick when his header went just over the cross bar in the top right corner of the frame.

Bengston entered the night with just three career scores and this marked his first career two-goal game.

“I thought we played well tonight,” said Elon head coach Darren Powell. “To secure the program’s first winning season at this level is something our boys have worked hard toward all year. Now we plan to continue our good form and look forward to the SoCon Tournament.”

In goal for Elon, senior Taylor Saxe recorded his third shutout of the season and 15th of his career, which ranks second in program history. Among his four saves on the night was his 300th career save. Saxe now has 303 career stops, fourth in program history.

For Radford, Roszel did not record a save and played only the first 45 minutes. After halftime, Chris Dykstra entered in front of the goal. Dykstra allowed one goal and stopped one shot.

Elon outshot Radford by a 10-7 margin, but the Highlanders held a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal. The Phoenix attempted seven corner kicks to two for Radford.

This marks the second 10-win season at the NCAA Division I level for Elon. In 2000, Elon went 10-10-0.

The Phoenix will enter the Southern Conference Tournament as the number six seed and will visit third-seeded Furman at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 28.