WILMINGTON – The Elon women's soccer team (7-2-3, 2-1-1 CAA) dropped its first conference match Saturday, falling to unbeaten UNCW (7-0-6, 2-0-2 CAA) in a 5-1 result at UNCW Soccer Stadium.
The Seahawks scored two goals in the opening half and never trailed on their way to victory.
Gabby Tirado scored Elon's lone goal in the closing minutes of the first half.
With the win, UNCW takes over solo first place in the CAA South Division with eight points. Elon is tied for second with William & Mary and just one point behind the Seahawks.
How It Happened
- UNCW scored the first goal of the match in the eighth minute of a corner kick opportunity.
- Elon took the next five shot attempts following the UNCW goal. Jess Beck put Elon's first shot on target of the day in the 12th minute.
- Naomi Person made her first stop in goal in the 23rd minute to keep UNCW's lead at 1-0.
- The Seahawks were granted a penalty kick in the 27th minute. Hailey Longwell converted the penalty to make it 2-0 for UNCW.
- Person made a diving save in the 36th minute, denying UNCW's Abbey Pierson on a dangerous scoring chance.
- Elon broke through in the 41st minute with a goal to cut UNCW's advantage in half. Talia Feigin played a long ball toward the box that UNCW goalie Lili White punched back into play. Tirado gathered the loose ball and lifted a volley into the air that went over the head of White before dropping under the crossbar and into the net for a Phoenix goal.
- Ava Hellner took the final shot of the opening period as the Seahawks took a 2-1 lead into halftime.
- Both teams swapped goalkeepers to start the second half, with Anica Carpenter entering the match for the Phoenix.
- The Seahawks scored a trio of second-half goals to cement their home win.
Notable Numbers
- Tirado's goal was her fourth of the campaign as the midfielder is now alone in second on the Phoenix in goals. She has scored in back-to-back conference matches and has a team-best five points in CAA play.
- Both teams attempted 15 shots in the match. UNCW put 11 of their attempts on goal compared to just four shots on goal for the Phoenix.
- Grace Gelhaus took a match-high four shots.
- Alexis Pierce went the full 90 minutes on Elon's back line. She has played all 360 minutes for the Phoenix in CAA play.
- Person played the first half in goal for Elon before Carpenter took over for the second half. Carpenter made four saves with Person stopping two shots.
- In total, 18 different Elon field players logged minutes in the match.
- The loss snapped Elon's 12-match unbeaten streak against CAA opponents. It was the first conference loss for the Phoenix since Sept. 27, 2025.
Up Next
Elon heads to the Northeast for a pair of CAA North matches next week. The Phoenix will face Northeastern on Oct. 8 before traveling to Monmouth on Oct. 11.
Stay Posted
For further coverage of Elon women's soccer, follow the Phoenix on X (@ElonWSoccer), Instagram (elonwsoccer) and Facebook (Elon Women's Soccer).
