M. Soccer Tangles with No. 20 Elon
10/15/2012 10:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer
ELON, N.C. – The College of Charleston men's soccer team returns to Southern Conference play with a road tilt at No. 20 Elon on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at Rudd Field at 7 p.m. The Phoenix mark the ninth ranked team CofC has challenged this season.
KICKING OFF THE COUGARS…
CofC (6-8-0, 2-1-0 SoCon) saw its two-match win streak snapped when the Cougars
fell, 3-0, to No. 2 North Carolina at Patriots Point on Saturday night. The
Cougars proved it could possess and control the pace with the
perennial-powerhouse Tar Heels, but CofC struggled to get behind the defense
and create chances until late. Junior Rob Lovejoy picked up a hat trick as he
netted all three of the Tar Heel goals in his first match of the season after
undergoing surgery.
Prior to that, the Cougars surged towards the top of the SoCon standings with back-to-back league wins over Appalachian State and UNC Greensboro. The Cougars now sit in a four-way tie for second place with six points in the standings. Elon is alone atop the standings with nine points. Teams get three points for a win and one point for a draw in league play.
CofC was outscoring its opponents on the year until the UNC bout, but now has given surrendered 0.14 more goals per game that scored which equates to a two-goal deficit through 14 games. The Cougars have struck first in exactly half of their games but allowed four equalizers. Scoring first has been instrumental to the Cougars as CofC has yet to come from behind to win a match this season.
Senior midfielder Sean de Silva (Port of Spain, Trinidad) has been CofC's lead producer on the field this season and leads the team in goals, points and shots. He is in the top five in the SoCon in those categories as well and also ranks third in the league in game-winning goals which he now has two of, one of which came in double overtime against UNCG in CofC's most recent win.
Junior keeper Kees Heemskerk (Zaandam, Netherlands) also features prominently in the league's statistics as he ranks second in saves (55) and save percentage (.743), and fourth in goals against average (1.34) and shutouts (3).
This will be CofC's last road match of the season as the Cougars play their final three matches – all of which are league games – at Patriots Point.
SCOUTING THE PHOENIX…
Elon (9-3-1, 3-1-0 SoCon) emerged in the rankings for the first time last week
as they beat a pair of ranked opponents in No. 18 West Virginia and No. 22
Furman in the first week of October. The Phoenix could slip in this week's
rankings, however, as Elon since took a 3-4 loss to Wofford.
Elon recovered to pick up a hard-fought win in its most recent outing, a 4-3 outlasting of Georgia Southern on the road on Saturday, Oct. 12. Sophomore forward Jason Waterman scored two goals early for the Phoenix, both assisted by Chris Thomas, but the upset-minded Eagles stormed back to equalize early in the second half. With 1:16 remaining in the match, Thomas scored a goal of his own to put the Phoenix back up, 3-2. The Eagles had an answer once again, however, as they forced it back into their attacking third after the ensuing kickoff and slipped it in the net with 33 seconds showing in regulation.
Late in the second overtime, Matt Wescoe headed the ball home on a cornerkick for the Phoenix to escape with the win.
The match was Elon's third consecutive match to require overtime.
Thomas, a senior forward, has been the most prolific scorer in the country this season with 17 goals this year, averaging 1.31 goals per game. Thomas has personally scored over half of Elon's goals and also has five assists, meaning he's contributed to 22 of their 31 goals on the year.
ALL-TIME SERIES…
CofC has had the better of Elon which joined the league in 2003. The Cougars
have a 10-4-0 edge on Elon and have three times eliminated the Phoenix from the
SoCon Tournament.
Most recently, however, Elon stole a win away from the Cougars last season at Patriots Point. CofC led in shots (13-6), shots on goal (6-4) and corner kicks (9-6) on the night but couldn't get the ball into the net in the 1-0 loss.
NEXT UP…
CofC returns home to open up a three-match season-ending home stand leading
into the SoCon Tournament. The Cougars open the home stand with Davidson on
Saturday, Oct. 20. The Cougars and Wildcats kick off from Patriots Point at 7
p.m.
