ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's soccer team continues CAA play this Saturday, Sept. 9, as the Phoenix (1-2, 0-1 CAA) hosts Monmouth (1-1-1, 0-0 CAA) in its league home-opener at Rudd Field. That match is scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
• Saturday's game will be streamed on FloFC via a paid subscription.
• Live stats will also be available for fans to follow along with live updates on Twitter/X at @ElonMSoccer.
 
MATCH PROMOTIONS
• The team will be giving out soccer scarves to the first 100 current Elon University students for the match.
 
THE MATCHUP
• Saturday will be only the second time that the Phoenix and the Hawks will meet on the soccer pitch.
• In the first meeting between both teams last season, Elon took a 2-1 result at Monmouth thanks to a pair of opening-stanza goals from Mason Duval and Vemund Hole Vik. The win was the third straight for the Phoenix in CAA play while helping the maroon and gold to its best league start since 2016 at 3-1.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The Phoenix was handed a 4-0 setback at Stony Brook in its most recent contest last Saturday, Sept. 2. The loss was the first for Elon against the Seawolves as the all-time series was leveled to 1-1.
• It was the first time that the Phoenix allowed four or more goals in a game since facing James Madison in 2019 in a 6-0 loss.
• Both teams were tied in shot attempts at 13 apiece with the Seawolves having an 8-6 advantage in shots on goal.
 
OPENING STANZA
• The Phoenix is in its seventh season under head coach Marc Reeves. Through his 13 seasons as a head coach, Reeves has posted an overall record of 118-85-34.
• Scott Vatne has scored the only two goals for the Phoenix so far this season. The Klepp, Norway, native is sixth in the CAA in shots per match with eight and has five attempts on goal, which is eighth in the league.
• As a team, Elon has attempted 34 shots while opponents have fired 41 shots against the Phoenix. The maroon and gold have 17 shots on target at a 50 percent clip.
• Keeper Tomasz Wroblewski had three saves versus Stony Brook on Saturday and sits second in the CAA in saves per game at 5.67. The Warszawa, Poland, native has 17 saves in his first two games, also the second-most in the CAA. His 73.9 save percentage is fifth in the league.
• Elon returns 20 players and six starters in 2023 including returning All-CAA performers in Gamiz Quer, Vatne and Majaliwa Msabaha. The trio was recognized on the 2023 Preseason All-CAA team along with newcomer Luca Erhardt.
• Three players will don the captain armband for the Phoenix this season. Gamiz Quer and Msabaha will join senior Ben Rosenblatt as captains for the 2023 campaign.
• Elon welcomes eight newcomers to its roster for 2023 – Erhardt, Joachim Blomsterberg, Nick Buchholz, Jake Chilton, Jahmir Flowers, August Guinle, Nate Kennedy, JP Quigley, Eddy Righetti, Isak Sedin, Jordin Wilson and Tomasz Wroblewski.
• Erhardt arrives to the Phoenix as a transfer from James Madison. During his time with the Dukes, the Offenbach, Germany, native was a first team All-CAA member in his last played season in 2021 at JMU after scoring a team-high nine goals and an assist for 19 points while starting 17 games.
• The Phoenix also added Tony Falvino as the program's new associate head coach in the spring of 2023. Falvino arrives to Elon after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Mercer. During his time with the Bears, Falvino helped the program to a Southern Conference Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to his time at Mercer, Falvino served as the head coach at his alma mater at Greensboro College for six seasons. Under his guidance, the Pride compiled an overall record of 75-29-4 and a conference record of 49-10-3.
 
SCOUTING MONMOUTH
• The Hawks are 1-1-1 on the year and will play their first CAA match of the season on Saturday. Monmouth is coming off a 1-0 loss at St. John's last Friday with its lone win of the year being a 3-1 result over LIU on Aug. 28.
• Monmouth is coming a 7-7-1 campaign in 2022 while going 2-6-1 in its first season in the CAA. The Hawks were tabbed to finish 10^th overall in the 2023 CAA Preseason Poll.
• Offensively, the Hawks have attempted 41 total shots while holding the opposition to 30. Monmouth has 16 shots on target at a 39.0 percent clip. Individually, fifth-year striker Ben Zakowski leads the Hawks with five total points on his team-highs of two goals and an assist. Kevin Zapata is the only other player on Monmouth with a goal this season.
• In goal, Eryk Dymora has manned every minute in between the posts for the Hawks. The redshirt sophomore has eight saves on the year with a CAA-low GAA of 0.67.
 
Up Next
Elon travels to fellow Piedmont Triad rival High Point next Tuesday, Sept. 12 with that game time slated for a 7 p.m. start.