Buies Creek, N.C.- The Elon Phoenix (2-9-4) will look to showcase a strong performance against the Campbell Camels (4-5-6) on Thursday night. This will be the final road game for the Phoenix before they return to Rudd Field for their final match of the 2023 campaign.
 
Elon's offense put together one of their strongest halves of the season against Stony Brook. Both Ashlee Brehio and Lydia Totten found the back of the net for the Phoenix in the second stanza.
 
Brehio and Totten share the top two spots in points on the Phoenix with Brehio with 11 points and Totten with ten. Totten's five goals this season leads the team with all of them coming in CAA play.
 
How to Follow
 

• Thursday's game with Campbell will not be streamed on FloFC, but you can listen to the game by CLICKING HERE.
• Live stats will be available for the matchup with Campbell and will be available by CLICKING HERE.
• Live updates will be available on both X and Instagram during the match @ElonWSoccer.

 
Last Time Out

• Stony Brook got things going early, forcing a pair of saves from Anna Hamner within six minutes of the start.
• The Sea Wolves struck first in the 8^th minute when Luciana Setteducate found the back of the net following a deflection.
• Stony Brook would pile on the pressure by forcing three more saves within the next ten minutes before striking again in the 28^th minute off the foot of Ashley Bell.
• Lydia Totten would fire her first shot on target in the 34^th minute on an effort from outside of the box that would be covered by the Sea Wolves' goaltender.
• Elon would start fast in the second half when Lydia Totten found the back of the net on an outside of the box effort to bring the Phoenix within one.
• The Sea Wolves would then fire two goals into the back in the net in quick succession to bring the lead up to three.
• The Phoenix would muster chances from Rachel Buckle and Grace Gelhaus before Ashlee Brehio made a forward run that drew goalkeeper Ava King out of her net and was taken down in the box, drawing a penalty kick.
• Brehio would slot home the penalty to break the lead to two.
• The Phoenix would collect two more shots on goal from Brehio and Gelhaus, but no goals would come for Elon, and the result would end in a 4-2 loss.

 
The All-Time Series
 

• Elon leads the all-time series with a 7-3 record against Campbell.
• The two were rivals during Elon's Division I transition into the Big South in the late 1990's but the two have not played a competitive game since 2012.
• The last victory for the Phoenix against Campbell came in 2010 in a 1-0 win over the Camels. Elon midfielder Kimmie Krauss would net the only goal of the game in the Phoenix victory.
• The two played scheduled exhibitions in both 2021 and 2022, but this will be the first regular season matchup between the two Old North State schools since Elon joined the CAA.

 
Scouting Campbell
 

• Campbell was projected as the seventh seed in the CAA Preseason poll receiving one first place vote.
• Laney Peabody was selected as a preseason all-CAA team member. Peabody has collected two goals on the season.
• Alyssa Tucker leads all freshman in the CAA in goals with five on the season. Tucker most recently scored a goal against Hampton and put two passed Drexel in a 3-2 victory over the Dragons.
• Campbell has gone unbeaten in their four previous games, putting them within striking distance of the CAA tournament field.
• The Camels are four points out of the final spot with two games to play. Following their matchup with Elon, the Camels will travel to Monmouth for their final regular season game against the Phoenix. If Campbell falls to Elon, they will be eliminated from playoff contention.

 
About the Phoenix

• Elon enters this matchup with Campbell following another winning season and another top-half finish in the CAA a year ago.
• Elon is coming off their best offensive performance in Division I history against Hampton, scoring nine goals against the Lady Pirates.
• Elon put five past the Lady Pirates in just 14 minutes and would not look back.
• Ashlee Brehio collected three assists in the game, the most by a Phoenix since 2011 and the first of her career.
• Lydia Totten notched her first goal since her freshman season against Towson which gave the Phoenix the early 1-0 lead.
• Against Wofford, Gabby Hoschek became the first Phoenix to score two goals in one game since Carson Jones bagged two against Furman in the 2021 season.
• The three freshman goals are the most combined first-year goals since Elon first years combined for three against Hampton in 2019 in an 8-0 victory over the Pirates.
• The Phoenix returns seven players who made at least ten starts a season ago including three defenders: Katie Lowe, Olivia McManes and Kerri Coffman.
• The midfield trio of Isa Murdock, Rachel Buckle and Kennedy Jones who combined for 44 starts a season ago all return.
• Elon's leading goal scorer Ashlee Brehio following her six-goal season a year ago returns as well. Brehio who was selected to TopDrawer Top 100 Freshman List for her efforts as a first year. 
• The Phoenix claimed two spots on the CAA preseason honorable mention team with junior midfielder Kennedy Jones claiming a spot as well as senior goalie McKenna Dalfonso.
• Elon was projected to finish sixth in the CAA preseason poll, the second straight year the Phoenix have been slotted at sixth by the coaches.
• In three of the past four seasons, the Phoenix have exceeded preseason predictions. Not only winning the CAA title in 2020-21, but in 2019 when the Phoenix were predicted to finish ninth and reached the CAA Tournament semifinals.
• Phoenix head coach Neil Payne enters his sixth season with Elon. Over the past three full seasons, the Phoenix have averaged over nine wins a season including 18 combined victories over the last two years.
• Following her three-goal opening week, freshman Gabby Hoschek was awarded with CAA Rookie of the Week honors.
• Hoschek opened her Elon scoring account with a two-goal performance against Howard, then put a goal past Caroline Doss of Wofford to extend the Elon lead in a 3-0 Phoenix win.
• Hoschek is the first Phoenix to be awarded Rookie of the Week since Lydia Totten earned the honor in 2021.

Youth Movement

• Coach Payne and Coach Olivia Mills bring in a strong recruiting class that is 11 players strong. The first years come from all over and fill a variety of holes from a Phoenix roster that saw a number of key contributors graduate.
• 11 of the 26 members are first years while 16 of the members of the squad are still underclassman.
• Two of the freshmen happen to be twins, Maya and Jenna Abousaab. The Abousaab twins are one of just 18 pairs of twins in NCAA Division I women's soccer.
• The class of 2027 features two local Raleigh products in Iliana Pardo and Gabby Hoschek. Pardo hailing from Leesville Road High School has represented the Puerto Rican U-20 women's national team. Hoschek started every match for her USL W-League team, Wake FC, tallying four goals and two assists.

Colorado Connection

• For over a decade, Head Coach Neil Payne was the technical director for Real Colorado SC and has kept strong ties with the club. Payne has created a recruiting pipeline for the Phoenix and this year's roster is ripe with Colorado talent.
• Three players come directly from the Real Colorado system with one player representing a different position on the field. Junior forward Lydia Totten, sophomore midfielder Isa Murdock and freshman defender Morgan Juran all played club for the team.
• Another Colorado native is freshman Ava Werner, who spent her time with the Colorado Rush on the Girl's Academy circuit. Werner hails from Boulder, Colo.
• Most recently, the Phoenix announced an addition to the coaching staff in Sean Sandoval. A former standout defender for Georgia Southern in his collegiate days, he had been coached by Payne in his youth career before becoming a coach at Real Colorado. Sandoval now enters his first season in North Carolina with the Phoenix.

 Backline Veterans

• The backline for the Phoenix features a quartet of veterans in defense and two in net.
• Senior Katie Lowe is a two-time preseason all-conference honoree and has started every game as a defender during her Phoenix career. She is joined at the back by a pair of seniors in Emilia Cappellett and Kerri Coffman. The two combined for 18 starts a year ago and were selected as team captains.
• In net brings a pair of upper classmen in senior McKenna Dalfonso and junior Anna Hamner. Dalfonso, a preseason all-conference selection, has numerous defensive player of the week honors and finished last season with seven shutouts, the most by an Elon goalkeeper since 2009. Dalfonso ranks second all-time in program history with 19 career shutouts. 

Preseason All-Conference
 

• Elon goalkeeper McKenna Dalfonso and midfielder Kennedy Jones were selected to the CAA preseason all-conference team. Both players received honorable mention honors.
• Dalfonso was one of three goalkeepers named to the preseason list and Jones joins her sister Carson as the only Phoenix sisters to both receive all-conference selections.
• Dalfonso already has her named littered all over the Phoenix record book. She enters the season second in career shutouts (19) while being top-10 in minutes, games played, and goalkeeper games played. She has made 128 career saves and allowed just 1.10 goals per game.
• Jones has been a staple of the Phoenix midfield since her freshman season. She has appeared in 32 career games and made 16 starts alone last season. She helped the Phoenix to six shutouts and scored two goals last during the 2022 season.

Up Next
 

• Elon will return to Rudd Field for the final matchup of the 2023 season against the College of Charleston. The game with the Cougars will kick-off at 1 P.M. on Sunday.