After 120 minutes of hard-fought soccer, the Elon University men’s soccer team was unable to put the ball in the back of the net, ending the game with a scoreless draw against the defensive-minded Duke University Blue Devils, a strong team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Phoenix came into the game riding a three game winning streak, including a win over fellow ACC foe Wake Forest University; the fourth ranked team the Phoenix has beaten this season.
This game, however, was a game with a different style of play against a defensive-minded Duke team, a back line that goalkeeper Nathan Dean believes is one of the best in the nation.
“They showed today how strong they can be in the back,” Dean said. “Especially their two central defenders were very, very good today. To match them defensively today was a very positive experience for us.”
Head coach Darren Powell was satisfied with his team’s performance in a game between two evenly matched teams.
“It was kind of an interesting game,” Powell said. “Neither team was giving much away defensively so there were few chances for both teams. I think, in the end, the draw was probably about what you were going to get. I think we could play for another hour and it still may be zero-zero.”
The game against Duke, however, meant very little to the Phoenix’s standing in the Southern Conference. The Phoenix won the regular season Southern Conference regular season championship and the number one seed in the post season conference tournament with College of Charleston’s scoreless draw with Wofford College.
An accomplishment Powell is proud of, but hopes is only the beginning of his team’s post season success.
“To be perfectly honest, it’s nice to be the champions of the league, the Southern Conference,” Powell said. “But from my thought process [it’s important] to try to get ready for Saturday’s [first round tournament] game [against Davidson].”
To Dean, winning the conference championship is an added bonus to what he hopes is a deep post season run.
“We were very pleased when we got into the position where we were going to have a share of the title,” Dean said. “We certainly didn’t expect Charleston to not win one of their two remaining games, so that’s a very nice surprise for us so it’s nice to go into the tournament as the first seed, that’s certainly something we wanted to achieve at the start of the season but it doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of strong teams [in the tournament].”
The Phoenix will play Davidson, the No. 8 seed and a team the Phoenix beat 2-0 earlier this year, in the first round Saturday at home.
To Powell, having a home game is a nice luxury to have and is an easier road to the semifinals and final at a neutral field in Cary, North Carolina.
“The guys understand the routine at home,” Powell said. “So we don’t have to come up with a game plan and a schedule plan to go on the road so it’s always good in familiar surroundings and guys can sleep in their own bed and get ready for [Saturday’s] game.”
Dean is excited because a home game gives his team a chance to play one more game in front of their home fans, who have come out in greater numbers this year.
“Especially the way we’ve been playing this year and the success we’ve been having this year has built up the amount of people coming to watch us,” Dean said. “As we saw [against Duke] the crowd is just getting stronger and stronger for each game we play, so to be able to get a home game in front of a really good crowd, it’s going to be a great evening.”