ELON, N.C. – Chris Thomas added the 41st goal of his career as the Elon Phoenix and Radford Highlanders battled to a 1-1 draw in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Rudd Field.
The draw marks the first of the season for Elon (5-2-1) while Radford (3-2-3) added their third of the 2012 campaign.
“Tonight was a very competitive match,” said Elon head coach Darren Powell. “Radford is a very good team. I thought we had several chances to win the game, but we didn’t take advantage of them.”
The maroon and gold were very aggressive in the first half of action with a 7-3 shot advantage, but both teams went into the half scoreless.
Thomas, who was named the Southern Conference’s Player of the Week for the second time this season earlier in the day, helped Elon get on the board on a penalty kick in the 49th minute. Thomas was able to maneuver a strike past Highlander keeper Ryan Taylor to add his 11th score of the season.
Radford continued to compete and was able to add the equalizer late in regulation as Bernardo Ulmo scored off a penalty kick to push the match even at 1-1 apiece in the 87th minute.
In the first overtime session, RU had its best chance to win the match when Ulmo fired a shot within the box in the 93rd minute, but keeper Nathan Dean was able corral the ball as both teams went into another 10-minute period.
The final period was otherwise quiet with both teams combining for one attempt, as both squads could not get into position the score the go-ahead goal.
Dean played all 110 minutes between the posts and had four saves. Elon ended the game with a 16-13 shot advantage over the Highlanders including seven shots on target.
The Phoenix opens SoCon play on Friday at Davidson with kickoff slated to begin at 7 p.m.