No. 2 seed Elon 1, No. 7 seed Appalachian State 1 (Elon advances in PKs, 8-7)
ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s soccer team defeated Appalachian State, 8-7, in a penalty-kick shootout after playing to a 1-1 draw Saturday night in front of more than 1,000 fans at Rudd Field to advance to the semifinal round in the Southern Conference tournament.
Senior Nick Butterly converted on the game-winning penalty kick to help the No. 2 seed Phoenix (13-4-2) advance for a semifinal rematch against Georgia Southern next Friday. Elon defeated the Eagles, 1-0, in last year’s SoCon semifinals.
Elon dominated the No. 7 seed Mountaineers (4-7-7) in shots (25-11) and corners (9-1) in the opening 110 minutes of action, but could not get past Appalachian State. The Phoenix was on the move from the start of kick and outshot App 12-4 in the opening stanza and held a 5-0 mark in corners.
The maroon and gold continued the aggressive offensive pressure in the beginning of the second period. Cauê Da Silva nearly put the first goal on the board for the Phoenix in the 48th minute after firing a shot from 10 yards away, but his attempt hit the top of the post.
The Mountaineers were the first to get on the scoreboard, in the 74th minute. Trey Hemphill scored off a deflection in the box from 20 yards away to give Appalachian State a 1-0 advantage and put the Phoenix on the edge of elimination.
The Phoenix continued to throw numbers up forward in an effort to chase down the equalizer and avoided disaster in the 85th minute. The Mountaineers’ Stephen Chapman broke away from the Elon defense and faced keeper Nathan Dean one-on-one during a breakaway. Dean managed to force Chapman to take a difficult attempt, which hit the post and kept the Phoenix within reach.
In the 87th minute, Elon would finally tie the score at 1-1. James Brace sent in a free kick into the box from the left side that dangerously edged the goal line. After a brief scramble, Nathan Diehl finally sent the ball into the net for his first score of the year and the equalizing goal.
The score would remain unchanged for the remainder of regulation as both teams headed into an extra session. Neither side generated much on the offensive end with one shot attempt between the two teams, and the match moved into a second overtime period. The second extra period was more of the same and the Phoenix and the Mountaineers moved into the penalty shootout.
The Phoenix faced early pressure in the shootout as App converted on its first attempt, while Elon missed. Dean and the maroon and gold stayed within reach and turned away the third Mountaineer attempt, while Matt Wescoe tied the shootout at 2-2.
Dean made another great stop on the ninth penalty-taker for Appalachian State, setting the stage for Butterly, who converted to give the maroon and gold the 8-7 win.
Dean made two saves in the match while playing all 110 minutes between the posts. Appalachian State keeper Danny Free had seven saves in the match while also playing every minute in goal.
No. 6 seed Georgia Southern 1, No. 3 seed UNCG 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Georgia Southern atoned for a 2-1 regular-season loss to UNCG with a 1-0 win over the Spartans on Saturday night in the opening round of the SoCon tournament. Witt Carlisle earned the game-winner in the 65th minute.
The win earned Georgia Southern its second straight trip to the SoCon semifinals. The Eagles will face Elon on Friday in the first semifinal at 5:30 p.m. from Furman’s Stone Stadium in Greenville, S.C.
Carlisle did the damage with his seventh goal of the season. He converted a penalty kick for what would turn out to be the game-winner.
UNCG’s offense poured forward after the goal but couldn’t find the equalizer.
Neal Bates, the defending SoCon Player of the Week, continued his stellar work with seven saves for the clean sheet. It was his fourth shutout of the season.
In a game of inches, the Spartans looked ready to take a 1-0 lead at the 64:30 mark, when junior Austin Miller made a great run across the top of the 18-yard box. Miller struck a bending shot that beat Bates, but his ball hit the inside of the far post and back into play.
Georgia Southern countered and Carlisle got in on a semi-breakaway immediately and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Stephen Moffitt came out to deny him. Moffitt was able to stop his shot but Carlisle tripped in the box after he got past the goalkeeper and GSU was awarded a penalty kick. Carlisle stepped up and struck a low shot to the right past Moffitt for his team-leading seventh goal and the 1-0 lead just 20 seconds after the post was rung on the other end, at 64:50.
The victory was Georgia Southern’s first at the UNCG Soccer Stadium against the Spartans and gave the Eagles’ their second straight semifinal date with the Elon Phoenix.
No. 4 seed Furman 1, No. 5 seed Davidson 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Senior Martin Ontiveros scored with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation to lift Furman to a 1-0 victory over Davidson in the Southern Conference men’s soccer quarterfinals Saturday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
With the victory, Furman (11-4-2) earned a spot in the SoCon semifinals and will face top-seed Wofford on Friday at 8 p.m. at Stone Stadium. The Paladins and Terriers will be preceded by the first semifinal between Georgia Southern and Elon at 5:30 p.m. Sunday’s championship match at Stone Stadium will kick off at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN3.
With under a minute to play in regulation, Clint Ritter collected the ball wide on the right wing and played a cross toward the far post. Ontiveros chested down the cross and volleyed the match-winning goal past Davidson goalkeeper Matt Pacifici at the 89:36 mark. The score marked Ontiveros’ fourth goal of the season and third game-winning tally.
The breakthrough goal came after Furman had created chances throughout the night only to be denied by Pacifici, who finished with nine saves. The Wildcat keeper turned away Bobby Edet twice in the opening eight minutes and denied Tyler Peoples on a goal-bound effort in the 11th minute.
Josh Fusan created a scoring opportunity in the 63rd minute that was saved, and Michael Gandier narrowly missed giving Furman the lead in the 70th minute on a 30-yard shot.
Sophomore Sven Lissek earned the shutout for the Paladins, his ninth of the season. The Sewau, Germany, native stopped two shots.
Furman compiled a 26-6 advantage in shots a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.