Elon Men’s Soccer Opens CAA Quarterfinals Versus William & Mary

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s soccer team begins postseason play for the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament this Saturday, Nov. 5, as the fourth-seeded Phoenix hosts fifth-seeded William & Mary in a quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. at Rudd Field.

MATCH NOTES

Follow @ElonMensSoccer
Fans can follow the Phoenix on Saturday with updates on Twitter from the program’s handle @ElonMensSoccer. Other score updates will also be provided at the handle @elonscores as well as live stats from the men’s soccer home page. The match will also be streamed for free through Elon’s Phoenix All-Access channel with John Roddey and Jenny Berman on the call.

Versus William & Mary
The Phoenix and the Tribe will meet on the soccer pitch for the eighth time on Saturday in the series between the two programs. Elon trails William & Mary 2-4-1 all-time and had been winless versus the Tribe since 2013. The Phoenix snapped that streak with its 2-0 victory over William & Mary at Rudd Field on Oct. 12, earlier in the season with Elijah Agu providing both goals in the contest.

UNCW Recap
Elon concluded its regular-season on Tuesday, Nov. 1, with a scoreless draw against UNCW. The shutout was the Phoenix’s league-leading eighth of the year and the 16th overall for keeper Matthew Jegier, moving him into sole possession of fourth-place on the program’s all-time career list. UNCW, who needed a win or a draw in the match to qualify for the tournament, earned the No. 3 seed for the league championships with the scoreless result.

Tourney Time
Elon has made the CAA Tournament each season since entering the league in 2014. Despite qualifying for the tournament the last three years, the Phoenix is still searching for its first victory in the CAA Championships. Elon has not been any lower than a No. 4 seed in the CAA Tournament in each of its two seasons and was the No. 2 seed a year ago. Saturday’s match will be the second CAA Tournament game hosted by Elon as the Phoenix previously hosted Northeastern in a quarterfinals contest at Rudd Field in its inaugural year in the CAA in 2014.

Academically Sound
For the ninth straight season, Elon was awarded as a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Academic Team as announced on Oct 6. The Phoenix produced a team GPA of 3.0 or higher for the ninth year in a row and was one of 315 men’s soccer teams that were honored by the NSCAA. Elon was also one of six teams from the Colonial Athletic Association that were recognized.

Jegier Selected CoSIDA Academic All-District
Matthew Jegier was named an Academic All-District selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) last Thursday, Oct. 27. The redshirt sophomore keeper was selected to the first team for District 3 and has a chance to be named Academic All-American later this season.

About Elon (7-5-4, 3-2-3 CAA)
The Phoenix closed the regular-season on a four-match winless streak with its last victory coming on Oct. 15, at Drexel. Since then, Elon has lost three straight versus Delaware, Duke and Hofstra before its draw against UNCW last Tuesday. The four-match winless streak is the longest for the program since Elon began the 2011 season at 0-3-1 in its first four games.

Elon’s offense has cooled a bit during the four-match winless streak as the Phoenix has only produced only three goals during the frame. Overall, the Phoenix has scored 25 goals on the season with Agu tying for the CAA-lead with 11 on the year which is also eighth in the country. Agu however has been held goal-less in the last three matches and only three other players – Jaiden Fortune, Austin Hill and Tuki Tayali – are having multi-goal seasons outside of Agu.

Defensively, Elon has allowed a CAA-low 14 goals on the year and ended the regular-season leading the league with eight shutouts. The Phoenix also has a league-best 0.88 goals against average and is 17th in the nation in shutout percentage at 0.50. Jegier has played all but nine minutes in goal this season for Elon and is leading or tied for the CAA-lead in GAA (0.82) and clean sheets (seven).

About William & Mary (10-6-2, 3-3-2 CAA)
The Tribe clinched its spot for the league championships last Saturday, Oct. 29, after a 1-0 victory over Drexel. William & Mary has won three straight and four of its last five since its 2-0 loss to Elon on Oct. 12, including a 4-0 victory versus Big Ten opponent Michigan.

William & Mary heads into the tournament as one of the top scoring teams in the league as the Tribe has scored a CAA-best 36 goals. The Tribe also lead the league in total points (106), goals per match (2.00), shots (255) and assists (34). Ryder Bell paces the squad with 22 points on his team-high nine goals along with four assists. Overall, the Tribe has had 13 players contribute at least one point on the year.

The Tribe has conceded 21 goals this season with its opponents averaging just under 10 shots per match (9.6). Opponents are shooting just over 45 percent of those attempts on frame. Phil Breno has been the main goalkeeper for the Tribe all season and has a GAA of 1.17 along with a .722 save percentage and six shutouts.

Up Next
If the Phoenix wins its quarterfinal matchup, it will travel to Hempstead, N.Y., to take on No. 1 seed and host Hofstra on Nov. 11, in the semifinal round at 7 p.m.