It took 91 minutes and 45 seconds of soccer, but the Elon University men’s soccer team was able to beat the 21st ranked Furman University Paladins on senior forward Chris Thomas’ penalty kick less than two minutes into overtime.
The win was the third over a nationally ranked team for the Phoenix, who move to 2-0 in Southern Conference play after last weekend’s 2-0 win over Davidson College.
The game went back and forth, with several quality scoring chances in each half for each team. The difference in the game, however, was a Paladin foul inside their own box, which allowed Thomas to end the game on a penalty kick, which he just sneaked by Paladin goalkeeper Doug Ryan.
“For me, it’s always good to end the game early in overtime so you don’t have to play the rest of the 20 minutes,” Thomas said. “I had a feeling the keeper knew which way I was going just because I’ve had three other PK’s, but I’m just glad it hit the back of the net.”
The goal was Thomas’ 16th of the season, the most in Division I. He scored 12 goals in September, good enough to win him the SoCon Player of the Month. Thomas is appreciative of such a prestigious individual award, but is quick to credit his teammates and coaches for his success.
“[Winning the award] feels good,” Thomas said. “I’ve tried to give as much credit to my team and the coaches. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be player of the month. Like right there [on the penalty kick], that’s a won touch finish into the goal that I end up getting credit for but my teammates really don’t. [The award] means our team is playing really good right now, that’s what it really means.”
Elon head coach Darren Powell knew how formidable Furman could be, which made the Phoenix win that much sweeter.
“We think Furman is a very good team, a very strong team,” Powell said. “They’ve got some very talented players. We knew that going in so knew we had to make sure we had a good, solid defensive game plan. I thought we defended well tonight, keeping a clean sheet. I don’t want to take anything away from Furman because I thought they played very well as well. It was a tight game, and fortunately we got the final goal.”
Elon was able to hold their opponent scoreless for the third time in their last five games. Despite holding the dynamic Paladin offense without a goal, Powell knows his back line can play considerably better.
“In spells we were good,” Powell said. “But then there were other spells when I felt we maybe should have attacked the ball a little bit better in that defensive third, but there’s things we can address with individual players and we’ll work on on the practice ground.”
Phoenix goalkeeper Nathan Dean was complimentary of his back line’s ability to shut down the Paladin’s offensive attack, including midfielder Coleton Henning.
“Furman had quite a few good spells, especially in the second half,” Dean said. “I think that shows testament to our defense that we managed to keep them out for quite long spells of pressure. More importantly, their main player, Coleton Henning, didn’t get many shots on goal.”
The Phoenix will have a short turnaround, facing off against Wofford College Tuesday night at Rudd field. Dean recognizes how much the Terriers have improved after last year’s struggles, and isn’t taking the game lightly.
“It seems like their much improved,” Dean said. “We played them last year and we played okay and seemed to just get through the game. So that’ll be another tough game, they haven’t gotten the recognition Furman has, but as we’ve said with ourselves, that doesn’t mean anything. We know it’s going to be a tough game, tough to keep another clean sheet, but that’s what we’re going for.”
Despite beating a team many believe is the favorite to win the SoCon, Powell doesn’t believe the Phoenix’s win made a statement.
“No, I think everyone was probably watching for the score of the game,” Powell said. “It was a big game, but every conference game is a big game. I don’t think it makes any statement at all. I think it’s just one of those where everybody’s looking for the [score of] games and it could go one or way or the other. Tonight we were just very fortunate it went our way.”