MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – Behind a pair of second-half goals, the Elon University men's soccer team earned three CAA points on the road as the Phoenix shutout College of Charleston, 2-0, on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 21, at Ralph Lundy Field at Patriots Point.
 
The win was the Phoenix's (3-8-3, 2-3-2 CAA) second straight in league play and its sixth overall over the Cougars, who fell to 5-5-5 on the year and 2-3-2 in the CAA.
 
THE RUNDOWN
The Phoenix had a great look for the first goal of the match in the fourth minute. Luca Erhardt played a ball from midfield on the right side before sending a ball to the top of the box, where Calle Edelstam was sizing up for it. The low shot however was deflected by a Charleston defender to erase the threat.
 
The Cougars nearly snuck in a goal in the 20^th minute. CofC's Peter Thomas found himself open near the six-yard area of the box, but Phoenix netminder Tomasz Wroblewski was there to knock it away.
 
Elon's offense got its first shot on goal in the 31^st minute. In its offensive third, the Phoenix sent in a pass into the box where it was deflected away, but found the feet of Scott Vatne just inside the 18-yard area. Vatne was able to maneuver around a defender for a shot, but it was deflected away by the keeper and back to the Cougars.
 
Vatne tried to put the Phoenix on the board early in the second half in the 46^th minute. The junior found himself open for a look about 25 yards away, but the shot sailed high and wide right.
 
Charleston almost put in the first goal after a counterattack in the 56^th minute. Thomas pushed a shot that just missed the far post, but was deflected away by the Phoenix.
 
The Phoenix finally broke the scoring stalemate in the 59^th minute. Elon earned a corner kick with Vatne sending the ball into the box. The ball found Franc Gamiz Quer with the graduate student able to sneak a shot past the defense for his second of the season.
 
Just three minutes later, Elon doubled its lead on a counterattack. Luca Erhardt took a pass from Vatne near the top right side of the box and pushed the ball into the bottom right of the net for his first score of the season.
 
The Phoenix defense held up strong for the remainder of the match and earned its eighth point of the CAA season with the 2-0 win.
 
Notes
• Elon held a slight 12-11 advantage in shots in the match with the Cougars leading on shots on goal, 6-4. Charleston also had nine corners compared to three for the Phoenix.
• Elon had its first multi-goal second-half game of the season. Prior to the match, Elon had scored three goals in the second stanza all season.
• The Phoenix defense shut out a Cougars' offense that had scored 13 goals over its past three games.
• With the win, the Phoenix extended its unbeaten streak against the Cougars to nine games in the regular season.
• Wroblewski had six saves in the contest for the Phoenix while adding his second clean sheet of the year in between the posts.
• Vatne became the second player with multi assists in the game and is tied for the team-lead in assists (three), goals (three) and points (nine) with Victor Stromsten.
 
UP NEXT
Elon closes out the regular season with a pair of home games next week starting with a contest versus Greensboro College on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. The program will also host Senior Night and recognize its senior and graduating class.