Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – After scoring the go-ahead goal in the 78th minute, the Elon men’s soccer team gave up back-to-back scores in a two-minute span to drop a 2-1 decision to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at the VCU Tournament on Friday evening. The loss was Elon’s (0-1-1) first of the young season and Coastal Carolina moved to 1-1-0 on the year.

“I thought we were a little off the pace in the first half, but in the second half, we stuck to our plan and got a good goal,” said Elon head coach Darren Powell. “Coastal kept pushing and hit two great strikes in the last minutes of the game. We now have to rebound quickly to play a good VCU side.”

After a back-and-forth first half, the Phoenix finally got on the board with its first goal of the season coming off the foot of junior Archie Karpeh in the 78th minute. Senior co-captain James Carroll served a ball over the Chanticleer defense on the right side and Karpeh took one touch and left-footed it over keeper Scott Angevine from about 12 yards out.

In the 83rd minute, the Chanticleers found the equalizer. Ashton Bennett collected the ball just outside the 18-yard box on the right side and drilled the tying goal into the top left corner of the net.

The score energized Coastal and minutes later the Chanticleers punched in the go-ahead goal. Justin Portillo dribbled into the box and slid a shot into the bottom left corner for for what proved to be the game-winner with just over five minutes to play in the contest.

Elon held a 14-11 shot advantage, including a 10-6 lead in the second half. Phoenix goalie Nathan Dean collected four saves and Angevine also stopped four shots.

The Phoenix will look to rebound when Elon plays the host VCU Rams on Sunday, September 4 at 2:30 p.m.