ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's soccer team opens the 2022 Colonial Athletic Association Championships in the semifinal round hosting Drexel on Sunday, Nov. 6. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Rudd Field with free admission.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
• Sunday's match will be streamed live on FloFC via a paid subscription.
• Links for the broadcast and live stats can be found on the Elon men's soccer schedule page at elonphoenix.com.
• Other in-game updates will be provided on Twitter by following @ElonMSoccer.
 
THE MATCHUP
• Elon and Drexel have squared off versus each other eight times on the soccer pitch in a series dating back to 2014. The Phoenix holds a 5-2-1 advantage all-time against its fellow mythical creature.
• Both teams met in the regular season on Oct. 1 also in Elon. The Phoenix earned a resounding 3-0 win at Rudd Field behind a three-point performance from Myson Darden. The Raleigh, N.C., native scored a goal and had an assist in the contest while Michael Clow and Mason Duval also added goals for the Phoenix.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The Phoenix played on the road at in-state foe UNCW for its regular-season finale on Saturday, Oct. 29. Elon battled the Seahawks to a 0-0 draw to help the Phoenix clinch its first-ever outright CAA regular season title. The result also gave the maroon and gold its first CAA title of any kind since being co-champions in 2015.
• Ryan Bilichuk and the Phoenix posted its 10^th shutout of the season, tying the program's single-season record. Bilichuk matched the mark set by Clint Irwin '11 and Matthew Jegier '18.
• The draw secured the Phoenix the top seed for the CAA Tournament and an opening-round bye in the quarterfinals. UNCW received the No. 2 seed for the championships.
 
ELON WELL REPRESENTED ON CAA POSTSEASON AWARDS
• The Phoenix was rewarded for its great CAA season so far during the league's announcement of its postseason awards on Wednesday. Elon won two of the four major awards for the league, headlined by Vemund Hole Vik being named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Marc Reeves being selected as the unanimous Coach of the Year.
• Hole Vik became the second Phoenix player to be named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, joining Nathan Diehl in 2015. Hole Vik was also one of seven Elon players that earned All-CAA honors as the Aalesund, Norway, native earned first team honors.
• Elon had a league-best four players receive All-CAA first team laurels. Along with Hole Vik, Mason Duval, Franc Gamiz Quer and Scott Vatne also received first team honors.
• Bilichuk and Kasper Lehm were named to the All-CAA second team while first-year Majaliwa Msabaha was placed on the third team and All-Rookie team.
• Reeves became the first Elon coach to receive the CAA Coach of the Year honor. It was the third Coach of the Year accolade overall in Reeves' career.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
• For the second consecutive week, Elon was receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll. It was also the fifth time this season that the Phoenix has received votes in the poll.
• Elon currently ranks second in the Atlantic Region and is 30^th overall in the most recent RPI rankings.
• Bilichuk's 10 clean sheets are second overall in the country while the Greenville, S.C., native is sixth in the nation on goals-against average (0.56).
• As a team, Elon is fourth overall in the NCAA in shutout percentage (.625) and GAA (0.56).
 
OPENING STANZA
• At 10-3-3, Elon has posted its first 10-win season since posting 14 victories in 2015. The Phoenix's regular season crown is its first outright title overall since 2012.
• Elon is making its sixth overall appearance at the CAA Tournament. It's also the first time that the maroon and gold had reached the league's postseason tournament in consecutive seasons since doing so from 2014-17.
• The Phoenix holds an overall 172-141 advantage in shots over the opposition. Elon also has a 76-45 advantage in shots on goal, hitting the target at a .442 percent clip.
• Duval leads the Phoenix in points (14) and goals (seven). Overall, Elon has recorded 25 goals from 13 unique scorers this season.
• The Phoenix is coming off a 9-8-2 ledger during the 2021 fall season and advanced to the CAA Championship final for the first time in school history.
• Elon returns 21 players and seven starters in 2022 including All-CAA performers Kasper Lehm and Jannik Videbaek. The maroon and gold also welcomes back a pair of CAA All-Rookie team players in Calle Edelstam and Scott Vatne.
• Both Lehm and Videbaek were selected to the 2022 Preseason All-CAA team. The Phoenix as a team was tabbed third by the league's head coaches in the 2022 CAA Preseason Poll.
• Three players will don the captain armband for the Phoenix this season. Videbaek joins returning captains Jeppe Jordoson and Marco Vesterholm as the team captains for the 2022 season.
• Elon welcomes eight newcomers to its roster for 2022 – Gustavo Atencio, Ryan Bilichuk, Michael Clow, Myson Darden, Carlos Levy, Majaliwa Msabaha, Sumner Nenninger and Franc Gamiz Quer.
• Reeves is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Phoenix. Through his 12 seasons overall as a head coach, Reeves has posted a career record of 116-81-36 with 41 of those victories coming at Elon.
 
SCOUTING DREXEL
• Fifth-seeded Drexel advanced to the semifinal round after defeating fourth-seeded Northeastern 1-0 on Thursday to open the quarterfinal round. The Dragons have reached the semifinal round for the past three seasons.
• The Dragons went 6-9-3 overall on the year and posted a 3-3-3 ledger in the CAA. Going into Sunday's match, Drexel is unbeaten in six of its past seven matches.
• Drexel has scored 27 goals on the year, good for second overall in the league. Seven players have multi-goal efforts this year with leading scorer Harrison Coron pacing the squad with five. Coron is one of three players with double-digit points with a team-best 11, just ahead of Joshua Pulla and Kyle Tucker, who both have 10.
• Alessandro Capogna has appeared in every game this season in goal for the Dragons. The Boville Ernica, Italy, native has a GAA of 1.06 with 58 saves and six shutouts this year.
 
UP NEXT
With a victory, Elon will advance to the championship final next Saturday, Nov. 12 at Rudd Field. The Phoenix would play either No. 2 seed UNCW or No. 3 seed Hofstra with a time for that match to be determined.