No. 23 Elon 1, Radford 0
ELON, N.C. – James Brace scored the match’s lone goal in the 18th minute as the 23rd-ranked Elon men’s soccer team held on and earned a 1-0 victory over Radford on Wednesday night at Rudd Field. The win was the programs 300th in its 41st year of collegiate soccer.
Brace’s game-winner improved the Phoenix to 6-1-1 on the year, while the Highlanders fell to 3-3-1. It was the second game-winning goal of the season for the Hartlepool, England, native and the fourth score overall in 2013.
Brace received the ball from Mark Berlin inside the box and was able to make a move past an RU defender and placed the ball into the back right corner of the net. Berlin took a ball from Daniel Lovitz on a cross and was able to move down the right side of the field before dropping a nice pass inside to Brace.
Both teams played evenly in the first half with the squads dead even on shots (5-5) and corners (2-2). Radford nearly put in the equalizer in the 28th minute, as Joe Mayer fired a shot that was blocked by an Elon defender. On the proceeding corner kick, Radford’s Nico Valencia almost put one past the Phoenix defense, but Elon keeper Nathan Dean knocked it out of play to set up another corner. The Highlanders committed a foul and the score remained 1-0 going into halftime.
RU continued to chase the equalizer in the second stanza. The Highlanders barely outshot the Phoenix in the second half (5-4) and earned one more corner than the Maroon and Gold at 3-2.
A dangerous moment came near the 60th minute as Stephen Hudgens and Luis Grande and had a pair of chances, but Dean corralled Hudgens’ shot and Grande’s strike went high.
The effort would come for naught as Elon earned its second shutout in its last three matches as Dean made six saves on the contest.
The Phoenix travels to High Point for its first true road match of the year on Saturday. That game is slated for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Winthrop 1, UNCG 0
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Despite a career-high eight saves by redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Stephen Moffitt, the UNCG men’s soccer team dropped a hard-fought 1-0 decision to regional foe Winthrop on Wednesday night at the UNCG Soccer Stadium. The Eagles scored with 1:53 seconds left in regulation to remain unbeaten on the season at 6-0-1.
With no score late, Winthrop finally was able to break through in the 89th minute of play. Achille Obougou got the ball at the top of the 18-yard box and held possession before sending a through ball behind the Spartans’ back line. Max Hasenstab ran onto the pass and took advantage of his second one-on-one opportunity as he was able to poke it past Moffitt for the game-winning goal with only 1:53 left in the contest.
The first half saw a majority of the play held in the midfield, with the Spartans owning a 7-3 edge in shots in the first 45 minutes. UNCG had one of its best chances in the 29th minute as Winthrop was called for a foul 25 yards from goal. Sophomore Lukas Zarges stepped forward and ripped a shot over the wall and just over the crossbar to keep the game scoreless.
The Spartans (4-4-0) had another prime scoring chance in the 39th minute off a corner kick. Junior David Reittinger found a little space 15 yards out and sent a shot to the far corner, but a Winthrop defender blocked the scoring attempt. The clearance came out to defender Justin Jones, who let a rocket of a shot go from 35 yards out that just skimmed off the crossbar to keep the score 0-0.
Winthrop came out after the break and started to turn the tables on the Spartans as the Eagles held an 11-3 edge in shots in the second half. Moffitt held Winthrop in check for most of the second half as he posted seven saves, including blanking Adam Brundle in the 48th minute from 15 yards out.
Moffitt came up with his biggest save of the night in the 65th minute of play. Hasenstab got in behind the UNCG defense and was alone with the goalkeeper, but Moffitt was able to making a diving stab to keep the game scoreless.
UNCG had its best scoring chance in the second half in the 76th minute of play off a corner kick. The initial set piece was sent into the box and cleared out by Winthrop, but sophomore Noah DeAngelo got on the end of the clearance and struck a shot form 25 yards out just over the crossbar.
Moffitt surpassed his previous career-best total by four saves. Winthrop goalkeeper Guilherme Avelar posted two saves in 90 minutes to pick up the win and his third shutout of the season.
UNCG returns to action Saturday as it concludes its three-game home stretch by welcoming Longwood for a 7 p.m. contest at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.