Closing the regular season against their travel partner throughout the season, the Elon University women’s soccer team battled the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to a 2-2 draw Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Greensboro.
Entering the match, the winner of the contest would finish the season as the No. 2 seed in the Southern Conference tournament. Because of the draw, Elon finished one point ahead of UNCG to take the spot.
Elon will take on Davidson College Sunday afternoon, Nov. 3, in the quarterfinals of the SoCon tournament. It’s the final match of the season on Rudd Field for the team.
Elon grabbed the lead early in the 13th minute when junior midfielder Bethany Houpt found the upper left corner of the goal from 25 yards out for her second of the season. The goal came four minutes after the Phoenix had a close call in front of the Spartans goal.
Four minutes before halftime, the Spartans scored to tie the match at one on a goal from sophomore forward Chesney White.
The tie didn’t hold for long, as senior forward Catherine Brinkman scored her sixth goal of the season, a personal-best in a season for her at Elon. The forward struck in the 58th minute when she put home a cross from senior midfielder Kimmie Krauss near the right post.
The Spartans got their second equalizer of the match in the 73rd minute when sophomore forward Katherine Rodriguez tied the match on a strike from just inside the box.
Elon almost got the victory with just 10 seconds left in the second overtime, but her free kick rang the right post and into the goalkeeper’s hands.
With the two goals, Elon was never shut out on the season. In the 19 regular season games, the Phoenix scored 51 games while allowing just 24.
MORE: Elon's title hopes dashed with draw against Samford
As the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, the Phoenix will play their first home game in the tournament in school history. Kick between the Phoenix and Wildcats is set for 2 p.m.
In the matchup between the two this season, the Phoenix beat the Davidson on the road 4-2 on Oct. 20.
Around the Southern Conference, Furman University clinched the No. 1 seed Sunday, Oct. 27. They’ll take on No. 8 Western Carolina University, who beat Appalachian State University on Wednesday to knock defending tournament champion Georgia Southern out of the 2013 tournament.
No. 3 UNCG will take on No. 6 Appalachian State while No. 4 Samford University takes on No. 5 Wofford College in the quarterfinals. The four winners of the quarterfinal games will converge on Spartanburg, S.C. for the semifinals and finals. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.