ELON, N.C. -- Despite dominating in nearly every statistical category, the Elon Phoenix wound up on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers in the final match of the inaugural Elon Classic men's soccer tournament on Sunday afternoon. In the first match of the day, UNC Greensboro and UNC Asheville played to a 1-1 tie.
In the first 45 minutes of play, Elon (1-3-1) mustered eight shots, including four on goal, to four total attempts, none of which were on frame, for ETSU (3-2-0).
Elon's
Steven Kinney was denied a goal in 32nd minute as a Buc defender raced behind keeper James Holt and stopped the ball just short of the goal line. That would be the trend all afternoon for the Phoenix who finished with 19 total shots, seven of which had to be saved by ETSU.
In the 58th minute, Sean Hoek took the ball away from the Elon defenders and raced in and beat
Kyle Boerner for the game's lone tally. It was the second score of the year for Hoek.
Following Hoek's goal, the Phoenix took nine more shots, including three stopped by Holt, but could not find the back of the net.
Boerner finished the day with two saves in his 90 minutes while Holt stopped six attempts.
ETSU ended the match with seven total shots, three on goal. Elon also committed fewer fouls (7-10) and earned more corner kicks (7-1).
Earlier in the day, UNCG (1-3-1) and UNCA (0-2-1) played to a 1-1 tie.
After a scoreless first half in which both teams attempted three shots on goal, the Bulldogs broke the stalemate in the 65th minute. Caleb Alexander netted his first marker of the campaign, an unassisted score that he collected off of a misplayed clear attempt by a Spartan defender.
With time quickly running off the clock, it looked as if UNCA would earn its first victory of the season, but UNCG's Michael Bonilla evened the score at 1-1 with his first tally of the year with just 6:01 to play. Matt Strine and Tim Masters were credited with assists as the played the ball through the box to Bonilla.
Neither team was able to score in the extra 20 minutes, although the Bulldogs put two shots on goal in that period.
ETSU's Lassi Hurskainen collected five saves while Chad Dickerson made six stops for UNCG.
UNCA finished with 19 shots, eight of which were on frame. UNCG took 16 shots, putting six on goal. The Spartans edged out the Bulldogs 9-2 in corner kick attempts.
2008 Elon Classic All-Tournament Team
UNC Greensboro - Jokull Elisabetarson (MVP)
UNC Greensboro - Chad Dickerson
UNC Greensboro - Matt Elliott
UNC Greensboro - E.J. O'Keefe
East Tennessee State - Tyler Hoek
East Tennessee State - James Holt
East Tennessee State - Sean Hoek
UNC Asheville - Lassi Hurskainen
UNC Asheville - Patrick Tate
-- ELON --
