ELON, N.C. -- Freshman Kiki Willis recorded his first career hat trick, scoring Elon’s first three goals, as the Phoenix raced to a 6-1 non-conference men’s soccer victory over High Point on Saturday afternoon at Rudd Field. Elon has started the season 4-0-0 for the first time since beginning the 1988 season 5-0-0. The four victories for the Phoenix also equals last season’s win total. High Point fell to 0-4-0.
Willis (pictured right) scored his first goal of the day at the 15:34 mark, collecting a header from Douglas Boateng and beating the Panther keeper one-on-one. Fabyan Saxe also notched an assist on the score. Later in the first half, Willis took a feed from Aaron Parker and found the back of net for the second time. Brett Paschall also tallied an assist on the goal at 36:24.
Wills struck for goal number three on the day, and number five on the year, about eight minutes into the second half when he headed a cross from Will Mason into the goal. Nearly four minutes later, the Phoenix pushed its margin to 4-0 when Brennan Farrell took a pass from Paschall and scored. At 61:37 Parker scored his first collegiate goal on assists from Eric Sass and Tim Sullivan. Parker was in on Elon’s sixth goal of the day at 63:57 when he fed Farrell who scored for the second time on the afternoon.
The Panthers ended the Elon shutout bid at 72:40 when Dan Haywood’s free kick deflected off a defender and found the back of the net, ending the scoring on the day.
Taylor Saxe played 63:57 in front of the goal for Elon and did not have to make a save on the day. Kyle Boerner finished the game in goal for the Phoenix and allowed the Panther goal and made no saves. Adam Ross made four saves for High Point while allowing all six scores.
Elon held a dominating 17-5 advantage in total shots as well as a 10-1 edge in shots on goal. The Phoenix also took seven corner kicks to only two for High Point.
"I thought we played well today," said Elon coach Darren Powell. "Our passing and movement was better again today. It was nice to see the ball hit the back of the net a couple of times. This group has a very tough week ahead of them and if we can continue to work hard, hopefully we can play this well again."
Elon travels to Old Dominion for a 7:00 p.m. tilt on Wednesday night while High Point hosts Campbell next Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
-- ELON -- Game Box Score
