Elon Men’s Soccer Treks to College of Charleston

ELON, N.C. – Playing in its second-to-last league road match of the season, the Elon University men’s soccer team heads to College of Charleston this Saturday, Oct. 13, for a Colonial Athletic Association contest. The Phoenix and Cougars are set to square off at 7 p.m. at the Patriots Point Athletics Complex.

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Follow @ElonMSoccer
Updates of the match on Saturday will be provided on Twitter at the program’s handle @ElonMSoccer. The game will also be streamed on the Cougars’ athletic website at cofcsports.com. For the latest on the Elon men’s soccer team, follow @ElonMSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at elonphoenix.com.

Series History (Elon trails 6-12-2)
Going into Saturday’s contest, Elon and College of Charleston have met on the soccer pitch 20 times in a series going back to 2001. The Cougars lead the all-time advantage over the Phoenix, 12-6-2, and won the most recent contest last season with a 2-1 victory in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., in the quarterfinal round of the CAA Tournament.

Jegier Selected as Candidate for Senior CLASS Award
On Sept. 19, redshirt senior goalkeeper Matthew Jegier was selected as one of 30 candidates for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate soccer. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Jegier became the third member of the program to be selected as a candidate for the award following Clint Irwin (2010) and Steven Kinney (2009). An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Opening Stanza
• The Phoenix is carrying a current seven-match winless streak into the match after its 2-0 setback last Wednesday, Oct. 10, against No. 13 UNCW. Elon has been competitive during that stretch with four of those matches going into extra session as well as four games being decided by one goal.
• The Phoenix has accounted for 16 goals this season, just two off the entire total from last season. Elon is averaging 1.45 goals per match and has the second-highest goal scoring game in the country with its eight goals at Rutgers on Sept. 2.
• Redshirt junior striker Iñigo Bronte netted a hat trick against the Scarlet Knights becoming the third Phoenix player in the past three seasons to achieved that feat. The Pamplona, Spain, native was selected as the CAA Player of the Week for his performance on Sept. 3.
• Bronte leads the Phoenix in total points with nine on his team-high four goals and an assist. He also has 36 shots this season for Elon. Only three other players have more than 10 shot attempts for the Phoenix this season with Marcel Fahrenholz being the next closest behind Bronte with 14.
• As a team, Elon is outshooting its opponents 124-111 with 45 of those attempts coming on target at nearly 36 percent. The Phoenix is also winning the corner battle over the opposition, 54-39.
• Eleven different players have found the back of the net for at least one goal this season for Elon after having just seven different goal scorers for all of 2017.
• Elon head coach Marc Reeves is five victories shy of claiming No. 90 in his collegiate coaching career. Reeves boasts a career record of 85-55-27 with 75 of those wins coming as the head coach at Radford for seven seasons (2010-2016).

Scouting College of Charleston
CofC (3-7-1, 0-3-1 CAA) heads into the match Saturday like the Phoenix looking to earn its first three points of league play. The Cougars also have a long winless streak going into their clash against the Phoenix at six games with its last win coming versus Fairfield on Sept. 9. Recently, CofC is coming off a 3-1 setback at CAA-leader James Madison last Saturday, Oct. 6.

The Cougars have scored 12 goals this season and are averaging 9.3 shots per contest. CofC has fired 49 shots on target at 44 percent, but opponents have 66 attempts on frame at 41 percent. Junior midfielder Tucker Heffron leads the Cougars with his eight points on a team-best four goals on the year. Joao Mauricio de Souza paces the team with his three assists and is second to Heffron in points with five.

Two players have seen action in goal this season for CofC. As a team, the Cougars have posted a 1.84 goals-against average with 43 saves and and a .652 save percentage. Freshman Cameron Smith has started the most recent matches in the net and has a 1.86 GAA with 14 saves and a shutout.

Up Next
Elon will step out of CAA play for its next contest as the Phoenix heads to Appalachian State for its rescheduled match against the Mountaineers on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.. Both teams were originally slated to face each other on Sept. 17, in Elon, before the match was rescheduled to Wednesday in Boone, N.C.