ELON, N.C.—The Elon University women's soccer team delivered its fifth shutout on the season and third win in a row on Sept. 17 as it registered a 2-0 victory against reigning Southern Conference (SoCon) champion Furman in its final nonconference match of the season.

"That was an excellent win against a very good team," said head coach Neil Payne. "It's a perfect warmup for our conference play start next week. We played extremely well. There are still some things we need to clean up, but that's the beauty of this team. We're always looking to improve every day and we'll do that this week. Really confident after that result not only going into next week, but into conference play."  
 
THE RUNDOWN
-Less than five minutes into the game, Katie Lowe found Carson Jones, who found the back of the net to put the Phoenix up 1-0.  
 

-The Phoenix had two additional opportunities to score in the final nine minutes of the half, but both shots were saved to keep the score 1-0 going into halftime.  
-Jones doubled the Elon score during the 56^th minute when she buried a shot in the center of the net to match her career high for single-game goals.
 
-Furman took its final two shots on target in the 60^th and 63^rd minutes, but both were saved by McKenna Dalfonso to secure the shutout for the Phoenix.  

NOTES
-Jones' goals and points (4) on the night set a new team high on the season.
-Lowe's assist in the first goal marks the first of her career.
-In goal, Dalfonso (5-3) totaled four saves over the course of the game. After today's match, the sophomore leads the conference in shutouts per game (.625).
-Tonight's game was the first two-goal game for Jones since the 2019 season when the Phoenix topped Towson 3-1.
-Despite being shut out, the Paladins outshot the maroon and gold 13-8.
-All five of Elon's victories so far this season have been shutouts.
-The victory is just the fifth all-time against the Paladins (5-12-1). The last win against Furman came on Oct. 13, 2013, when the maroon and gold was a member of the SoCon (4-3).
-With the win, Elon improves to 5-3 on the season, while Furman falls to 4-2-1.
 
UP NEXT
The Phoenix will travel to UNCW for a rematch of the 2020 CAA Championship Final on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m.