Elon Men’s Soccer Faces James Madison on Saturday

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s soccer team closes out its 2018 campaign this Saturday, Oct. 27, with a Colonial Athletic Association road contest at No. 25 James Madison. The Phoenix and the Dukes are scheduled to kickoff at 8 p.m. at Sentara Park.

LIVE STATS

Follow @ElonMSoccer
Updates of the match on Saturday will be provided on Twitter at the program’s handle @ElonMSoccer. 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 leads 1-0-3)
This Saturday will be the fifth time that both programs will meet on the soccer pitch with each contest coming as league opponents. Elon is undefeated in the series versus JMU at 1-0-3 as the Phoenix makes its second-ever trip to Harrisonburg, Va. The lone victory in the series for Elon came in 2015 with the maroon and gold prevailing with a 2-1 victory. Last year, both teams battled to a scoreless draw in Elon.

Opening Stanza
• Elon fell at the hands of Hofstra, 2-1, in its most recent contest on Oct. 20. The match was the final home game of the season for the Phoenix, who honored its six-member senior class of Amir Berkane, Jahmeil Curwen, Marcel Fahrenholz, Nicolas Resusta Galdos, Matthew Jegier and Jack Willbye before the contest.
• Berkane scored the lone goal in the contest for the Phoenix on a penalty kick, his second of the season. He and Iñigo Bronte are the only players on the Phoenix to score multi-goals this year.
• The setback to the Pride pushed the Phoenix to 1-5-1 in the league standings and officially eliminated Elon from the CAA Tournament. It will be the first time since joining the league that Elon will miss the league’s postseason tournament.
• The Phoenix has accounted for 19 goals this season. Elon is averaging 1.37 goals per match and has the second-highest goal scoring game in the country with its eight goals at Rutgers on Sept. 2.
• Bronte netted a hat trick against the Scarlet Knights, becoming the third Phoenix player in the past three seasons to achieved that feat. He was selected as the CAA Player of the Week for his performance on Sept. 3.
• Bronte leads the Phoenix in total points with 13. He also has 48 shots this season for Elon, the third-most in the CAA. Four other players have more than 10 shot attempts for the Phoenix this season with Marcel Fahrenholz and John Walden being the next closest behind Bronte with 14.
• As a team, Elon is outshooting its opponents 160-136 with 55 of those attempts coming on target at nearly 34 percent. The Phoenix is also winning the corner battle over the opposition, 69-44.
• 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 four victories shy of claiming No. 90 in his collegiate coaching career. Reeves boasts a career record of 86-56-28 with 75 of those wins coming as the head coach at Radford for seven seasons (2010-2016).

Scouting James Madison
The Dukes have been on a tear as of late with a six-match winning streak coming into the contest this Saturday. JMU currently sits atop the league standings with its 6-1 ledger with its only blemish coming at the hands of No. 14 UNCW on Sept. 29. Overall, James Madison is 11-3-2 and is ranked for the first time since 2011 after coming in at No. 25 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Association poll.

JMU has scored 28 goals this season and has totaled 83 points, sitting second in the CAA in both categories. Carson Jeffris is the top goal scorer for the Dukes with his six goals and he is tied for the team-lead in points with 14 along with Aaron Ward-Baptiste and Manuel Ferriol. Both Ward-Baptiste and Ferriol are tied for the team-lead in assists with four.

In goal, TJ Bush has manned every minute between the posts for JMU. The reigning CAA Player of the Week, Bush has a 0.48 goals-against average with 40 saves and 10 shutouts this season.