Elon Men’s Soccer Travels to Charleston for Midweek Matchup

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s soccer team closes out its regular-season slate this week with a pair of matches on the road beginning with a meeting at College of Charleston on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The Phoenix and the Cougars are slated to kickoff at 7 p.m. at the Patriots Point Athletics Complex.

Follow the Phoenix
Fans can follow the Phoenix on Wednesday and throughout the season with live updates on elonphoenix.com. Live stats for every men’s soccer match will be available on the team’s schedule and home pages on the Elon athletic website as well as an opportunity to sign up for text alerts. The match will be streamed online through College of Charleston. In-game updates will also be provided on Twitter at @elonscores or the program’s handle @elonmenssoccer.

Series History
In a match featuring two former members of the Southern Conference, Elon and College of Charleston are meeting for the 16th time in a series that dates back to 2001. The Cougars hold an 11-4 advantage all-time against the Phoenix and won the most recent meeting, 3-2, in 2012 at Elon.

Last Time Out
The Phoenix battled James Madison to a scoreless draw on Sunday, Oct. 26, in its regular-season home finale. Elon saw its season-high four-match win streak snapped at the hands of the Dukes, but extended its unbeaten streak to six games. The shutout was also the ninth of the year for the maroon and gold and senior goalkeeper Nathan Dean, the second-best performance in a single year in school history and one shy of the program mark of 10 in 2009.

About Elon (8-4-4, 3-1-2 CAA)
Elon is currently third in the Colonial Athletic Association standings with 11 points, trailing UNC Wilmington (4-2-1 CAA, 13 points) and Hofstra (4-2 CAA, 12 points). The Phoenix could move into first with a win over the Cougars and Hofstra loss to Northeastern on Wednesday.

The Phoenix continues to improve in the NCAA RPI rankings as Elon currently sits at No. 30 in the latest report. Elon is the second-highest ranked team from the CAA in the report just behind UNCW at No. 29.

Elon ranks in the top-15 in the country in shutout percentage at 0.56. That is among four defensive categories that the Phoenix leads the CAA in along with shutouts (nine), save percentage (.786) and goals against average (0.71).

James Brace paces the maroon and gold offensively with 12 total points on his six goals this season. Eight other players have also tallied a goal this year for Elon, who ranks tied for fourth in the league in that category.

In goal, Dean recently moved into sixth all-time at Elon in career saves with 244. He needs 11 more to tie for fifth all-time with Joe Bartlinski (1983-84) at 255.

Scouting College of Charleston (2-9-3, 0-4-2 CAA)
College of Charleston, under 28th-year head coach Ralph Lundy, has not won since Sept. 7 and has gone 0-2-2 in its last four games.

The Cougars have struggled putting the ball in the back of the net, ranking last in the CAA in total goals (14) and goals per game (1.00). Nico Rittmeyer is the leading point producer for the Cougars with 10 total points on his team-highs of four goals and two assists.

Two players have split time between the posts this season for College of Charleston with the pair combining for a 1.49 GAA and 56 saves overall.

Up Next
Elon closes out the regular-season on Sunday, Nov. 2, at CAA preseason favorite Delaware with the Phoenix and the Blue Hens kicking off the match at 1 p.m.