Diehl’s Golden Goal Lifts Elon Men’s Soccer to 1-0 Win Over College of Charleston

ELON, N.C. – Nathan Diehl’s golden goal at the 108th minute aided the 19th-ranked Elon University men’s soccer team to a 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association victory over College of Charleston in its league regular-season finale on Saturday night, Oct. 31, at Rudd Field.

Diehl’s goal helped the Phoenix (13-4, 6-2 CAA) clinch a share of the CAA regular-season title with Hofstra due to the Pride’s loss versus James Madison on Saturday. The Pride is still the No. 1 seed heading into the league championships do to its head-to-head victory over Elon.

CofC fell to 7-7-2 with the loss and 4-3-1 in league play. Elon’s win also clinches the Phoenix the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye for the CAA Tournament beginning on Nov. 7 with quarterfinals play.

Elon will face the winner between No. 3 Delaware and No. 6 UNCW on Nov. 13, in Hempstead, N.Y., while Hofstra will take on the winner between No. 4 College of Charleston and No. 5 James Madison.

The Rundown
Both teams took plenty of chances during the match including a couple real close ones for the Cougars. In the 50th minute, CofC’s Hamilton Carlin took a shot that hit the inside of the post, but failed to find its way into the net.

Later in the 78th minute, the Cougars had another shot hit the post on a header attempt, but the bounce went in the way of the Phoenix.

Prior to that, Elon’s Luis Argudo had a couple of tries that were easily corralled by the Cougars’ goalkeeper in the 73rd and 77th minute of action. The Phoenix fired off a couple of chances, but could not convert as the match went into overtime.

In the 99th minute of the first overtime, Jaiden Fortune nearly put the game away after beating the keeper and taking a shot towards the goal. His try was pushed too far left and sent the match into a second overtime period.

The Phoenix finally found the golden goal in the 108th minute after an Elon corner kick. James Brace retrieved the ball near the top of the box on a clear out and flicked the ball back inside towards the box. The ball found the head of Diehl who proceeded to head it in to the back right post and gave Elon the 1-0 win.

Match Notes
• Both teams combined for 53 shots with Elon having won the shot battle, 28-15. Of those chances, only eight total were on goal with the Phoenix holding a 5-3 overall advantage.
• Elon also had a 9-7 victory on corners in the match.
• The 13 wins for Elon ties a Division I program-record for victories in the regular-season.
• The shutout was Elon’s and keeper Matthew Jegier’s eighth of the season. That puts him into a tie for fourth all-time in school history in a single season.

Up Next
The Phoenix closes out the regular-season with a match at home next versus Radford on Wednesday, Nov. 4. That match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Rudd Field.