On a night filled with heart-stopping, back and forth action, it’s only fitting that the leading goal-scorer in the nation, Elon University forward Chris Thomas, would send most of the 689 fans watching the game home with something to cheer about.
After last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Appalachian State University, the Phoenix was able to capitalize on a Wake Forest University foul inside their own box in the 16th minute, which resulted in a Thomas penalty kick and the game’s lone goal to push Elon to a 1-0 victory over the No. 13 Demon Deacons. The win was the Phoenix’s school record 11th win on the season.
“It’s a very good result for our program,” Phoenix head coach Darren Powell said. “Again, to beat a nationally-ranked program of the quality of Wake Forest is exciting for the team but, as I just told the guys as we came off, our focus needs to be on getting ready for Saturday [against University of North Carolina-Greensboro].”
Powell thought his team’s performance was just what they needed in a match against a skilled opposition.
“I think the game [was played by] two quality teams,” Powell said. “Wake Forest is nationally recognized, they're very well-coached, they're one of the best teams in the country. The game, I felt, was even at times. You’re going to have flows; it’s going to flow back and forth between the two teams and we were fortunate when we had our little bit of an up-surge that we were able to score our goal.”
The goal, Thomas’ 20th on the season and 50th in his career, puts the forward just two goals away from the school record, an accomplishment whose significance is not lost on his coach.
“To score 50 college goals is very good, isn’t it?” Coach Powell said. “He’s had good production this year, he’s worked hard over the course of the summer and to score 20 goals in a season, so far, is obviously a good sign for him and, obviously, for the team. He’ll be the first to admit he takes [scoring goals] as his job; his job is to score goals for this team and he’s taken that on his shoulders this year and performed well at it.”
Tonight’s win was the Phoenix’s fourth victory over a nationally-ranked opponent, having previously beaten University of North Carolina Charlotte, Furman University and West Virginia University.
Thomas credits his team’s league with preparing the Phoenix to compete with the top teams in the country.
“We know we can play with any team in the country,” Thomas said. “Our Southern Conference is a little underrated. You have to work hard to be champion of the Southern Conference. So, I think it’s just we know we can play with these teams because we play in the Southern Conference.”
The Phoenix defense, which had been struggling recently, rebounded with a shutout against the Mountaineers Saturday night, and continued to be rock solid against the Demon DEacons, posting their fifth shutout of the season.
It is a stat sophomore goalkeeper Nathan Dean says is a testament to the back line’s determination to return to form following a tough stretch in which they gave up 10 goals in just three games.
“We had two very strong performances against Charlotte and Furman, and then we had that slight dip in form where we conceded goals against teams we shouldn’t have,” Dean said. “Now we’ve come back; clean sheet against App, clean sheet against Wake Forest today and I think it just shows the character we’ve got on the team that we can bounce back like that.”
The Phoenix was able to hold yet another one goal lead; an aspect of the game Dean said will be vitally important going forward.
“We’d like to win games four- and five-nil all the time,” Dean said. “But we need to also give the front players the confidence that they can count rely on us to keep it quiet in the back and to trust us that if they get the one goal we can see the game out for them.”
The Phoenix will have little time to enjoy this win before driving to University of North Carolina Greensboro for Saturday night’s match, a match Powell said will be intense, given the rivalry the two schools have against each other.
“It’s a great rivalry game,” Powell said. “Both teams are pretty familiar with eachother. We’re all friends off the field, but when it comes to game time we know it’s going to be an intense rivalry and we need to make sure we preform well.”