The Elon University women's soccer team couldn't advance past the first round of the Southern Conference tournament as a 3-0 loss to the College of Charleston on Oct. 30 ended the Phoenix's season.
Elon entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and lost to No. 3 seeded Charleston, who hosted the game in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Charleston defeated Elon 1-0 in Mt. Pleasant three weeks ago, but in the team's final game it was simply outplayed, said head coach Chris Neal.
"It was an extremely uncharacteristic performance from the level of effort from our team, " Neal said. "We played the same team three weeks ago on the exact same field and it was a highly contested match that could have gone either way. When you get outplayed the way we got outplayed it's not just one thing."
Elon finished the year with an 8-8-4 overall record and was 6-3-2 in the SoCon, marking the team's third straight winning season in conference play.
Neal said the team played well during the conference season and is happy with the results. The Phoenix finished the SoCon regular season with a four-game winning streak.
"I thought we had as good a chance as ever to win the conference tournament," Neal said. "We're a young group from top to bottom. We played a much tougher non-conference schedule. We really tested ourselves, but ultimately our team matured and we were able to win some tight games at the end of the year."
Senior midfielder Noell McCain and senior defender Andrea Keller end their Elon careers with 39 wins during four years, the most by an Elon senior class since the Phoenix joined the Division 1 level.
McCain said her final season as an Elon athlete was a successful one, as the Phoenix had a winning season and beat local rival UNC Greensboro for the first time in the seniors' career. Competing in her last game as an Elon student athlete felt "weird" and "very emotional," said McCain.
"I'm definitely gonna miss the team," she said. "The team camaraderie and us being a family." Neal also praised the two seniors for their efforts to help elevate the team's play during their four years.
"They've done a fantastic job building this program into a competitive Division 1 program," Neal said.
Despite the loss of two seniors, Neal said returning so many players will be an advantage for the Phoenix next season.
"That experience is going to help us in the future," he said. "We've got a really strong junior class that will be seniors and I'm not really worried about our leadership"