CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Phoenix jumped out to an early lead over 10th ranked Virginia, but failed to hold on for the victory Wednesday.

Elon jumped on the scoreboard first and took a 1-0 lead when Chad Heinicke gathered a cross set up by teammates Jake Downs and Marley Hagerstrom and beat UVa goalkeeper Kyle Singer with a shot from 22 yards out for a goal at 26:27. Virginia answered right back just over two minutes later when Ryan Kelly headed a deflected ball past Phoenix goalkeeper Scot Whal's outstretched arms at 28:40 to knot the score at 1-1.

After nearly 17 minutes of scoreless second half action, Virginia's Alecko Eskandarian scored the eventual game-winning goal at 61:55. Marshall Leonard played a ball upfield to Curtis Bush, who then sent a cross to Eskandarian that he chipped-in from 10 yards away to make it a 2-1 UVa lead. Just over five minutes later, Eskandarian scored his second goal of the game when Kyle Martino sent a cross that found it's way in front of a streaking Eskandarian, who then fielded the ball and fired a shot from 12 yards out that resulted in a goal to put the game away, giving the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead.

The loss drops Elon's record to 6-8-0 on the year while Virginia improves to 10-3-1. This was the first meeting between the two schools.

Elon will return to action on Saturday when the Phoenix host Big South opponent Winthrop University.

--ELON--