Elon, N.C.- The Elon Phoenix (4-0) look to continue their winning ways this Saturday as they open CAA play against the Drexel Dragons (1-2) at Rudd Field Saturday afternoon. Elon enters the match having won their first four matches of the season and look to continue their best start to a season since 2015.
 
Elon took home a hard-fought win over the Grand Canyon Lopes Monday night. Ryan Manna put home a 77^th minute to give the Phoenix their fourth straight win to begin the season.
 
How to Follow

• Saturday's game with Drexel will be streamed on FloFC, and you can watch the game by CLICKING HERE.
• Live stats will be available for the matchup with the Lopes and will be available by CLICKING HERE.
• Live updates will be available on both X and Instagram during the match @ElonMSoccer.

 
The All-Time Series

• This will be the 11^th meeting all-time between the Phoenix and the Dragons with the first matchup starting off the series in 2014.
• Elon last played Drexel in 2023 and fell 1-0 to the Dragons in Philadelphia.
• In the last matchup at Rudd Field, Elon took down the Dragons by a 1-0 score in the 2022 CAA Tournament semifinals. The Phoenix have outscored Drexel 4-0 in their last two matchups at Rudd Field.  

 
Last Time Out

• The Phoenix claimed a 2-1 win over Grand Canyon Monday night at Rudd Field.
• Both teams came out hot early, trading possession in the midfield and penetrating each team's back line.
• Grand Canyon found the back of the net in the eighth minute to draw first blood.
• Elon would find a goal of their own off the boot of Colin Veltri. Veltri scored the goal, but August Guinle made the play surging down the left wing and finding Veltri's left foot with a left-footed cross.
• Each team would only muster one more shot in the half after Veltri's goal before going into the half all squared at one.
• The Phoenix pilled on the pressure from set pieces at the beginning of the half with Jack Donlan snapping a header just wide of the right post, before a headed effort found the GCU keeper's gloves.
• Veltri put another shot on target in the 61^st minute with a curling effort from outside of the box.
• The Lopes forced the first save of the night out of Tomasz Wroblewski in the 62^nd minute, but the shot was easily smothered by the Elon keeper.
• After a Grand Canyon shot that was blocked Elon, the Phoenix ran the other way on the counterattack. A long ball found the head of Victor Stromsten who played it through to Ryan Manna who found the back of the net to the bottom right-hand corner of the goal.
• GCU made efforts in the final 13 minutes, but none could find the target as Elon held on for the 2-1 win over the Lopes.

 
Preseason Praise

• Senior Scott Vatne and graduate Victor Stromsten were both selected to the All-CAA preseason team while junior Majaliwa Msabaha was an honorable mention. Stromsten makes his first appearance on an All-CAA preseason list following his 13-point season in 2023.
• Vatne makes his second straight appearance on the All-CAA preseason team while Msabaha is featured for a second time on the honorable mention list.
• Stromsten returns to the Phoenix for his fifth season at Elon. The forward came on strong at the end of the season up top for the Phoenix, scoring four goals in his final six conference games. Stromsten saw the Phoenix through to the CAA semifinals with a game-winning goal over the number three seeded Stony Brook Sea Wolves.
• Vatne enters his senior season having amassed a list of preseason and post-season honors over the last year. Following an All-CAA First Team and All-Atlantic Region season in 2023, Vatne returns to the midfield following a 12-point season and leading the Phoenix in assists with four.
• Msabaha makes his second honorable mention side after back-to-back All-CAA Third Team selections. The junior captain led the Phoenix last season in the midfield, making 16 starts in 17 games and picking up an assist in Elon's CAA quarterfinal win.

 
Top Drawer Recognition

• Elon has been laced with preseason honors to several players with Scott Vatne and Tomasz Wroblewski being named to the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Top 100 players list.
• The Phoenix were the lone club in the CAA with multiple players on the Top 100 list with Hofstra being the only other CAA school with a player mentioned.
• This was the first time Elon had two players listed on the preseason list since Elon joined the CAA ten years ago.
• Victor Stromsten was selected to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week this past week for his performances against both Radford and Coastal Carolina.

 
Scouting Drexel

• The Dragons were predicted fifth in the preseason CAA poll released in August.
• Patrick Short was the lone Dragon selected to the All-CAA Preseason Honorable Mention.
• After three games, Drexel sits at 1-2 before hitting CAA play. Drexel dropped their first two games in Wisconsin after traveling to play both Marquette and the University of Wisconsin. The Dragons lost those games by a combined score of 6-0.
• Drexel got their first win of the season in their most recent game against La Salle with a 3-2 win at Vidas Field.
• Dominick Bachstein scored two goals against La Salle and leads the club in goals. Short leads the team in assists with a pair of helpers.
• David Castellanos enters his first season as the head coach of the Dragons after leading the Chesnut Hill men's soccer program.

New Faces Making Impact

• Colin Veltri, Connor Mucchetti, and Charlie Kitch all join the Phoenix after playing elsewhere in the 2023 season.
• Veltri claimed the game-tying goal in the first half in the game against Grand Canyon. He enters the matchup with Drexel claiming a point in all four games so far this season.
• Veltri and Mucchetti both scored in the recent matchup against Coastal Carolina with Mucchetti netting his second goal and Veltri netting his first.
• Veltri and Kitch both collected an assist on Scott Vatne's game-winning goal against Florida Gulf Coast.
• Veltri currently is tied with Vatne for the team lead in assists with three through three games.
• Both Veltri and Mucchetti joined the Phoenix in the spring with Kitch joining Elon this fall.
• Jack Donlan put together a 90-minute performance at center back for the Phoenix against Radford and a 62-minute stint against Coastal Carolina. Donlan joines the Phoenix after a two-year stint at Indian Hills CC.