ELON, N.C. ? The fourth-seeded Elon Phoenix got two goals from Erfan Imeni and picked up a 2-0 victory over the visiting fifth-seeded Appalachian State Mountaineers in the first round of the 2007 Southern Conference Tournament on Sunday afternoon. Elon (8-6-4) secures its second consecutive winning record and advances to the semi-finals to take on the top-seeded Furman Paladins on Friday at 4:30 p.m. from UNCG Soccer Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.  ASU finishes its year with a 6-10-3 record.

The Mountaineers put two shots on goal in the first 45 minutes while the Phoenix tested ASU’s keeper just once in that span and the teams headed to the half scoreless.  Overall in the first half, Elon outshot Appalachian State 7-6.

Appalachian State got off the first three shots of the second half before Imeni blasted home his second goal of the season on a direct kick from 25 yards out at 62:25.  It was Elon’s first shot of the stanza and turned out to be Imeni’s first career game-winner.

The Mountaineers pushed the ball right back down the field and nearly knotted the game at 1-1 nearly 30 seconds later, but Arie Muniz’s shot hit the right post.

ASU’s best shot at the equalizer came at 81:12 when, following an Elon foul in the box, Michael Walters’ penalty kick banged off the top of the crossbar, preserving the Phoenix 1-0 advantage.

Jon Juchno’s pass to Imeni’s feet in the box at 89:12 led to the second goal of the day for Imeni.  He took a touch and rocketed a shot past ASU’s Greg Walters for his third marker of the year.

Elon, which had never had a winning season at the NCAA Division I level until last year’s 10-8-2 season, secured its second straight +.500 record with the victory.  The Phoenix had defeated the Mountaineers 4-0 during the regular season earlier this year.