ELON, N.C. – The Elon men’s soccer team got on the board early and often en route to a 4-0 victory over the visiting Richmond Spiders in the Elon Classic on Saturday night in the first contest of 2010 at Rudd Field. The Phoenix (1-2-0) got goals from four different players in the squad’s first shutout of the season. With the clean slate, Clint Irwin became Elon’s all-time career shutout leader with 20 shutouts. The loss was Richmond’s first of the season as the Spiders dropped to 1-1-1.

“We played quite well tonight with the reason being that we played the game at the right tempo from the first whistle,” said Elon head coach Darren Powell. “Scoring goals gave our guys more and more confidence to keep playing. The key now is to prepare ourselves for a strong Jacksonville team with less that 48 hours between games.”

Junior James Carroll netted the first goal of the season for the Phoenix in the ninth minute of action to give Elon the early 1-0 lead. On Elon’s third corner kick of the early minutes, freshman midfielder Daniel Lovitz served a perfect ball into the box and found the head of Carroll who netted the score from about six yards out.

The Phoenix controlled possession in the first 45 minutes. Sophomore Chris Thomas nearly added to the Elon lead in the 16th minute, as Brad Franks found Thomas wide to the left. The forward’s shot went just wide of the near post.

At the 39:42 mark, Phoenix forward Gabe Latigue tacked on Elon’s second goal of the evening. Defender Nick Butterly sent a through ball from the midfield and found Latigue in the right side of the box. The Elon sophomore hooked the ball to the near post past a Richmond defender and Spider keeper Brock Tomlinson.

The Phoenix didn’t let up and less than a minute later added its third goal of the half. Lovitz got his second assist of the night, crossing the ball to the right side of the box where Hunter Miller drilled the score to the far corner from about 15 yards out.

Elon continued to be impressive in the final half, scoring yet again in the 51st minute. On the left side of the field, Latigue passed the ball to Franks just inside the top of the box. Franks tapped it to Thomas who lofted the shot over Tomlinson’s head for the 4-0 advantage.

Elon outshot Richmond 18-2 in the contest and racked up eight corner kicks compared to two by the Spiders. Irwin made one save in his record-breaking performance.

In the first game of the Elon Classic, Jacksonville defeated UNC Greensboro, 2-1.

The Phoenix will be back in action on Sunday, Sept. 12 for the final match of the Classic. Elon will take on Jacksonville at 2:30 p.m. at Rudd Field.