Elon freshman center shines in debut
Most freshmen take a redshirt year, some play minimal minutes and very few play valuable roles.
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Most freshmen take a redshirt year, some play minimal minutes and very few play valuable roles.
Chalk it up to first game jitters or early season rustiness. Whatever the reason, the Elon University women’s basketball team was unable to pull away and was pushed to the brink by Division II Anderson University before creating separation late and escaping with a 77-72 win in its season opener Nov. 14 at Alumni Gym, a game much closer than the matchup would have suggested on paper.
The Elon University men’s soccer class of 2011 knew Father Time was at some point going to catch up with them and their time with the Phoenix would have to end. Despite the possibility that their season could extend into a fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, it appears unlikely after a disappointing quarterfinal exit in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. The Phoenix fell 2-0 to Northeastern University Nov. 8, leaving Elon with a remote chance at an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. It was an abrupt and agonizing end to what was a historic four years for the program. “It’s hard to swallow,” said senior defender Austin Dunker. “I’m heartbroken. I’ve been blessed to play here. You never want it to end, but it is going to end eventually.” Two of the standouts in the class, goalkeeper Nathan Dean and forward Jason Waterman, have left their marks on the program, rewriting the record books and cementing their names into the discussion of the greatest players in program history. Dean, who has been between the pipes for the Phoenix since the time he stepped on campus, has 25 career shutouts, the most in school history, and 254 saves to his credit. Waterman, meanwhile, has 19 career goals, nine assists and 47 total points. The other three in the class, defender Tommy Allen, midfielder Eliot Browarsky and Dunker, were key cogs in a dominant back line that was consistently among the nation’s best in goals allowed. It isn’t just their individual achievements and honors that make the senior class memorable. The group came in and immediately changed the culture and direction of the program, helping to guide it to its first ever Southern Conference Tournament championship and NCAA tournament appearance in 2011 as freshmen. In their next two years, they helped guide the Phoenix to its first two regular season conference titles and second and third postseason championships. The class went to the NCAA tournament in each of its first three years and, in its third try, finally advanced to the second round on Waterman’s decisive penalty kick to beat Clemson University. “What they’ve done for our program is terrific,” said Elon head coach Chris Little. “They’ve had such a great career and have had unprecedented success. I’m so proud of what they’ve accomplished.” Overall, the class of 2011 has 45 wins in its four years, the most of any class in program history. But it’s the camaraderie more than any of the statistical feats Waterman will miss most about his time with the Phoenix. “When [former players] are asked what their lasting memories are from Elon, it’s always about their teammates. It’s never about the on-field accomplishments,” Waterman said. “They say it’s not so much what you’ve done but who you’ve become by what you’ve done. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without this program and these teammates.”
The Elon University men’s soccer team was showing alarming signs of a team that had peaked too soon a couple weeks prior to its disappointing 2-0 loss to Northeastern University in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Rudd Field.
It isn’t often the new kids on the block join a different conference and show long-standing and well-established programs how to play. But that is exactly what the Elon University men’s soccer team has done in its maiden campaign through the Colonial Athletic Association, where it has enjoyed the type of success unprecedented for a team in its position. The Phoenix immediately put itself in position to win the regular season crown and host the postseason tournament barely a month after joining the league with high expectations but little idea of what they would be up against. While Elon lost 2-1 to the University of Delaware on Nov. 2 in a game that could have given the Phoenix the No. 1 seed in the CAA Tournament, there’s still a tremendous upside with being the No. 4 seed. The Phoenix will host No. 5 Northeastern University at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 at Rudd Field in a CAA Quarterfinal. Head coach Chris Little isn’t surprised with his team’s start, as he expected the program to translate without issue no matter the conference. “We’ve set a precedent and a culture in our program with the mentality that we can play with anyone in the country,” Little said. “Our determination and work ethic allow us to be successful in whatever conference we’re in.” It didn’t appear that way two games in, though, as the Phoenix lost its conference opener to Hofstra University, then battled for a scoreless draw at the College of William and Mary. It was the alarm the team needed to appreciate the difficulty of the league and the passion and intensity that the Phoenix needed to come out and succeed in the highly competitive CAA. “We sort of needed that kick in the butt,” said junior midfielder Myles Mansfield. “Hofstra came in and gave us the wake-up call we needed. After that we knew we had to step it up.” The Phoenix regrouped and refocused for the home stretch, rededicating itself to the practice pitch in order to flip the script on a season that seemed destined for mediocrity. “We were able to get in a groove and put a winning streak together, which was huge for our confidence,” Mansfield said. “We were able to turn it around and make up for our slow start and find our way, especially offensively.” The draw with William & Mary was the turning point in its season, as the Phoenix rattled off wins in quick succession, thanks in large part to its scoring in bunches. It started with a 5-0 undressing of Northeastern University, followed by arguably Elon’s most impressive win of the season: a 2-1 victory over the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, which was nationally ranked at the time. The Phoenix found its groove and rode the wave of momentum to wins over Drexel University, and then stepping out of conference play for the final time to beat Duke University 2-1. After a scoreless draw against James Madison University, Elon beat an outmatched College of Charleston team 2-1 in double overtime in a game much closer than expected. Still, it was a victory that extended the Phoenix’s unbeaten streak to seven. A key factor to Elon’s dramatic turnaround and undefeated streak was its improved offense. The unit struggled in the season’s beginning but has since scored 11 goals in seven conference games. “[Offense] was certainly a factor in our turnaround, but I don’t think it was the sole factor,” Little said. “The guys knew they would need to step up their production offensively to win consistently in the CAA, but we’d been setting ourselves up before, we just haven’t been finishing our chances until recently.” But it was Elon’s brand of attacking soccer, senior defender Austin Dunker said, as well as its unique ability to adapt seamlessly to their opponent’s playing style, that were essential to the Phoenix’s turnaround. Both translated well and were a natural fit in the new conference. “We’re prepared and able to adapt to any playing style, which is a big reason why we’ve been so successful,” Dunker said. “We’re flexible in how we adapt to different game situations and tactics and are comfortable with changing it up on the fly.” As the Phoenix closes in on the CAA Tournament, it can reflect fondly on the past games. That wake-up call was what Elon needed to straighten out what appeared to be a derailing season.
The Elon University men’s soccer team stepped onto the field against the University of Delaware one win away from winning the Colonial Athletic Association in its first year in the conference, a feat few teams are able to accomplish and one that looked improbable given the team’s struggles through the nonconference portion of its schedule.
It looked for the majority of the game as if the Elon University men’s soccer team was going to suffer a backbreaking loss to the Colonial Athletic Association’s worst team — College of Charleston — at the worst time.
At last year’s “Late Night with the Phoenix,” Elon University men’s basketball coach Matt Matheny made a bold declaration. After strutting out with women’s head coach Charlotte Smith to the popular song “One Shining Moment” — the theme song of the NCAA Tournament — Matheny took the microphone and addressed the rowdy maroon- and gold-clad supporters packed into Alumni Gym. He said it was his team’s year to win the Southern Conference and earn a bid into the NCAA tournament. A year later, Matheny was back on the same floor with the same microphone and the same enthusiastic crowd. This time, after an 18-14 season and a loss in the first round of the SoCon Tournament, plus the loss of four of the best players the program has ever seen, Matheny avoided any such prediction. Matheny’s theme of the night was anticipation and excitement, not only for the teams and the season but also for life in a new conference with different opponents and greater challenges on the horizon. “It’s a great opportunity for our program and our school,” Matheny said of the CAA. “It’ll only make us better and bring our program to a completely new level.” He was every bit as excited about this year’s team, but he didn’t make any grand statements like last year’s. Instead, he encouraged the crowd to support the team, saying their support was “more important than ever” for a roster of young, inexperienced players that would benefit greatly from an emotional boost from the home crowd. They will need it. The Phoenix, picked last in the CAA preseason poll, will need to replace its top three scorers from 2013-2014: Sebastian Koch, Ryley Beaumont and Lucas Troutman. They have a solid group of veterans at the guard position in seniors Austin Hamilton and Kevin Blake, and junior Tanner Samson, but Elon will need younger players to emerge around them, particularly in the frontcourt. “We’ll sorely miss last year’s seniors and their production,” Samson said. “But we have the guys who can fill the positions we lost and provide the production that we’ll need.” Matheny outlined the team’s philosophy, taken from the San Antonio Spurs, which stressed the importance of “pounding the rock,” meaning practicing with relentless fire and passion with the pursuit of success in mind. When the rock does finally break, Matheny said, it would be the result of the accumulation of pounds the team has given to it over the course of the season. The strategy, Matheny said, is a useful analogy for his team to follow in order to achieve the success they envision for themselves. “We’re an inexperienced team in a very good league,” Matheny said. “We don’t expect to be a Final Four team today. So what we have to do is break it down incrementally and focus on climbing the mountain and pounding the rock every day.” Smith and her team are every bit as anxious for the upcoming season as the men are, and for good reason. The Phoenix brings back most of its core from last season’s 15-16 team. Although leading scorer Kelsey Harris has graduated, Smith said the team’s experience mixed with an influx of young talent will be enough to make them a contender in the CAA. “We’re excited about the talent we have up and down the roster,” Smith said. “If we work hard and stay focused, we can compete with anyone in the CAA.” The night began with both teams performing a choreographed dance routine with the dance team. After a quick warm-up session, both teams played in separate 10-minute intersquad scrimmages. Both teams then signed autographs for the Phoenix fans who stuck around until the end. “We really enjoy interacting with the fans and having a good time and showing them what we’ve been working on and how we look,” said senior guard Austin Hamilton. “We know they appreciate it.” Now that the lights have been turned off and the crowd has left the gym, both teams can focus on the relentless grind of season preparation. But for one night, the players got to take a deep breath and enjoy themselves before jumping into the deep end in early November.
Like all younger brothers, Connor Mansfield followed his older brother Myles around like a puppy during their childhood in Greensboro.
It wasn’t as easy as it may have appeared on paper beforehand, but in a game wrought with momentum shifts and physical play, the Elon University men’s soccer team held off a gritty, yet ultimately overmatched Duke University team 2-1 on Oct. 21 at Rudd Field.
The past two-plus years have been tough for Elon University men’s soccer redshirt sophomore forward Chad Craig.
The questions can finally be put to bed.
The Elon University men’s soccer team hasn’t gotten off to the kind of start expected of a program that has won three straight conference championships and made three straight trips to the NCAA tournament. The Phoenix sits at 3-2-2 after a rocky, up-and-down nonconference performance that featured a stout defense often held back by a frustratingly stagnant offense. If battling inconsistency isn’t enough, the Phoenix has faced a rash of injuries, with five potential starters — junior forward Caue Da Silva, junior midfielder Eduardo Alvarez, sophomore midfielder Alex Kowalski, senior defender Austin Dunker and junior midfielder Myles Mansfield — going down at one point or another. “They’ve been resilient, and their work ethic is unquestionable,” said Elon head coach Chris Little. “We’ve had a tough spell of injuries. I don’t know if there’s any other team that could say they’ve lost five potential starters out, but we’ve dealt with it well. The character of the team has come to the forefront.” Adding to the team’s frustration has been its inability to string multiple victories in a row and continue the momentum from a streak. It’s something junior midfielder Miguel Salazar knows the Phoenix must resolve before facing the toughest portion of its schedule. “The most important thing when you’re on a streak is keeping humble and not getting comfortable,” Salazar said. “Every game is difficult, and they come thick and fast, so you have to bring it every game. But if we stay humble and don’t get ahead of ourselves, we’ll be able to start winning in streaks.” MORE: Nathan Diehl finds home in Phoenix soccer after transferring from UNC Defense undoubtedly carried the Phoenix through its nonconference schedule. The unit has conceded just eight goals, six of which came in two games, against Stetson University in the season opener Aug. 29 and against Coastal Carolina University Sept. 26. That performance has been essential in giving Elon a chance to win every game despite having to overcome a less-than-stellar offense. To heat up offensively, Da Silva said he thinks the team must discover the same form that teams from the past couple of years have had. Once they find that rhythm, Da Silva said they will begin scoring goals with greater ease and on a more consistent basis. “It’s not too late. It’s not about how you start, but it’s how you finish,” Da Silva said. “We’re approaching the second half of the season trying to find that rhythm. If we can find it, it’ll allow us to put wins together and get to where we want to be at the end of the season.” It will be especially important for the offense as Elon makes its debut in the Colonial Athletic Association, a conference the Phoenix considers a step up in competition over the Southern Conference, which it left after last season. “The CAA has an intensity level game in and game out that matches or exceeds the SoCon,” said junior defender Nathan Diehl. “The intensity and quality of play is a notch higher than in the SoCon.” The conference features two top-25 teams — the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the University of Delaware. The rest of the conference’s seven teams, Elon included, are fairly even and are all solid squads with talent up and down the roster. “We want to test ourselves against the best,” Little said. “And we’re going to face a deep pool of quality teams and quality depth in the CAA. Any time a league sends three and four teams to the NCAA tournament, you know there is a lot of talented competition.” It will be vital, Diehl said, for the Phoenix to prove itself in its first few conference games in order to make a statement to its fellow members that it is capable of beating anyone at any time. “You want to establish confidence and convince our guys and the naysayers that we can hang with anyone in the conference,” Diehl said. “We know we can hang with anyone in the CAA, it’s just time to prove it.”
In what has become a familiar refrain this season, the Elon University men’s soccer team held host College of William and Mary off the scoreboard, but was unable to find the back of the net and had to settle for a scoreless draw Wednesday, Oct. 8 in Williamsburg, Va.
It was supposed to be a festive occasion.
About 15 minutes after blowing a wide-open opportunity in front of goal, Elon University men’s soccer junior forward James Brace shook off his miss and converted on his next opportunity to score the match’s lone goal and give Elon a 1-0 victory against High Point University on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Rudd Field.
Against a ranked team on the road in No. 24 Coastal Carolina University, the Elon University men’s soccer team hoped to lean on its stout defense, which has allowed just five goals going in to the game against the Chanticleers.
Facing a familiar foe from just down the road will always get an athlete’s blood pumping. They are competitors, and competitors feed off the motivation and desire to beat their longtime rivals. It is especially true for the Elon University men’s club rugby team, which fell 19-14 by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the newly anointed Rivalry Games Series championed by Elon Campus Recreation at the South Campus Rugby Pitch. The series in which each of Elon’s club sports teams will participate, pits two longtime rivals against each other for regional bragging rights. Elon and UNCG happen to be in the same division and conference for men’s rugby — the Piedmont Division of the Southern Rugby Conference. “Anytime we have a team that we play on a regular basis that’s close to us, it brings a heightened level of excitement,” said Elon club rugby coach Ryan Bays. “Anytime you get more people out and have them yelling and screaming and making noise, it’s a good motivator for your team.” Elon trailed 19-7 late in the match before scoring and adding a kick to cut UNCG’s lead to 19-14. But they could get no closer and were forced to watch their rivals holler joyfully on the other side of the pitch. Despite the loss, Elon senior Nicholai DiBiagio hopes the Rivalry Games Series with the Spartans will become an annual event. “These kinds of events will really help us grow the game and grow our program,” DiBiagio said. “Our program has come a long way in my four years, and hopefully this event will continue and bring rugby a bit more recognition.” Bays echoed the sentiment of the team captain, but added that it doesn’t have to be an annual game with UNCG. In fact, because Elon plays UNCG so often, he wouldn’t mind switching up the opponent every year. “I don’t know if playing this event against UNCG every year is a necessity because we’re probably going to go back and forth with them on a regular basis,” Bays said. “With other teams, there’s less camaraderie than there is with [UNCG], so having a different team who you’re less familiar with would bring new intensity to the event.” Moving forward, DiBiagio knows that the team must clean up the mistakes that cost dearly against UNCG, most notably the penalties and infractions that played a significant role in their slow start. If they are able to build on the positives they’ve shown early on this season, clean up their messy mental mistakes and get off to quicker starts, Elon will be able to steadily improve as the season goes on. “We came out a little flat,” DiBiagio said. “Our energy level, especially at kickoff, is something we need to improve. We need to work on our energy and discipline. It’s key that we cut down on the number of penalties we’re called for.” Their goal, of course, is to build on the success of last year, when the team competed at the USA Rugby College 7s National Championship in Greensboro. If they cut down on their mistakes,there is no reason to think they couldn’t replicate last season’s success. “We can’t make that many mistakes or play outside of ourselves,” Bays said. “We have too many people who are trying to do too much individually and not taking what the opponent gives us. If we can play more as a team, then we’ll get back on track.”
It looked for a long time as if the Elon University men’s soccer team’s game against Radford University was going to follow an all-too-familiar script.
There is one glaring weakness, at least in the season’s early stages, for the Elon University men’s soccer team, and it’s on the offensive end. The unit has no shortage of dynamic playmakers, starting with senior forward Jason Waterman and junior midfielder James Brace. But in the early going, those two, as well as the rest of Elon’s go-to offensive options, have struggled to consistently find the back of the net. Despite the burden of not having an offense to support them, the defense, which the Phoenix considers its calling card, has more than lived up to the challenge. The unit has conceded just four goals in five games, with three of those four coming in the season opener against Stetson University at the John Rennie/Nike Classic in Durham. Since letting in three goals to the Hatters, the Phoenix has held three of its next four opponents scoreless and has not allowed another goal in regulation. What’s more is that Elon’s allowing less than a goal per match, a remarkably low number for a team competing at the highest level of collegiate soccer. “There’s a commitment from all 11 players on the pitch to defend,” said Elon head coach Chris Little. “The application from the players has been very good. We feel as though we’ve limited the opposition to few chances.” Little credits his defense’s early season dominance to its discipline and organization in the midfield and in the back line. That stringency has allowed Elon to protect the box with large numbers of maroon and gold jerseys and force opponents to take most of their shots from well outside the box. “It’s the discipline the players have shown, both physically and tactically,” Little said. “Players are doing their role and working hard on the training pitch and knowing the standards we expect of them.” It’s hardly an aberration. The unit allowed just more than a goal per game (1.3) last season after spending most of the season under one. They conceded more than two goals just three times, once to the No. 1 team in the nation, the University of California at Los Angeles. Elon’s solid defense has become the program’s identity and a source of great pride for its coaches and players. It seems year after year that the one common denominator among Elon’s most successful teams has been a stout midfield and back four. “It’s part of our mentality. First we defend, then we attack,” said junior midfielder Miguel Salazar. “If we’re able to keep teams from scoring, that gives our offense a chance to win the game, and that’s our primary focus.” On offense, only three Phoenix players have scored — Salazar, who leads the team with two goals, junior defender Nathan Diehl, who has one goal, and Brace, who has found the net twice. Waterman, who last year led the Phoenix in total points (31), goals (12) and tied for the team-lead in assists (seven), has not contributed a single point this season despite leading the team in total shots and shots on target. It’s something that has backed him up a bit, as he wants to do everything he can to contribute to his team’s victories. He remains patient, knowing that the goals he covets will come with time and as a result of his hard work. “It’s definitely frustrating when you’re not producing offensively like you’d like to,” Waterman said. “Even when I’m playing well offensively, I want to do better, but I’ve played long enough to know that you can fix anything with hard work and repetition.” The problem, as Salazar sees it, has been finishing the quality looks they’ve garnered and, just as important, making quality passes or moves that lead to those looks. “We’ve been a little bit unlucky,” Salazar said. “We’re getting the ball into good areas. We’re just missing the last pass or the last run that we need to make. If we just make that last play, we can find the goals.” Elon is creating a number of quality chances in every contest, but they haven’t been able to finish enough of those opportunities. “If we weren’t creating chances, I’d be worried,” Little said. “But we are creating chances, so it’s just a need for more quality and execution on our part, but it’ll come. As long as we keep creating chances they’re eventually going to drop.”