It was an emotional game for the Elon University women’s soccer team against the William & Mary Tribe. In addition to it being the last home game of the regular season, there was a strong message to expand on the dialogue on mental health. Prior to the match, there was a nine-second moment of silence in honor of Morgan Rodgers, a former women’s lacrosse player at Duke University, with the team raising awareness for Morgan’s Message, an organization that strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health among student-athletes.
Following the moment of silence, the seniors of Elon took the field at Rudd Field for possibly the last time in their careers on Sunday afternoon. They made the most of it, as the Phoenix beat the William & Mary Tribe 1-0 in another strong showing Sunday afternoon. With the win, Elon has officially clinched a spot in this year's Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, which begins on Oct. 27.
In what he described as a gritty win, head coach Neil Payne said he was pleased with his team's performance.
“Very proud of the team,” Payne said. “I’m really pleased at the group's resilience and their character.”
After a scoreless first half, senior forward Jessica Carrieri found the back of the net in the 61st minute for her third goal of the season.
“We keep talking about a 90-minute mentality and that’s exactly what we put on the field today,” Carrieri said. “We scored a goal and then we kept that lead so that’s all that matters, we got the win.”
Payne said he was especially pleased with the team’s defensive performance following Carrieri’s goal.
“Anytime you’re 1-0 down you need to push number’s forward and you need to try to get a goal,” Payne said. “You’re going to have to defend in certain moments, and if we have to defend at 1-0 we’ll be happy to do it.”
One of the leaders of Elon’s defense is senior captain Beky Myers, who was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 26. She said she was happy to come out with a win.
“I think overall we played well,” Myers said. “It was a bit shaky towards the end but I think we held through, our defense held strong, and overall we came out with the win so that’s all that matters.”
Unless the Phoenix is one of the first two seeds in the CAA tournament, today will have been the last home game at Rudd for the senior class, who Payne spoke highly of after the match.
“They’ve changed the program,” Payne said. “This is a class who brought us a championship, we’re going to miss them, but they know that the season is far from done, we’ve got plenty of soccer left.”
While they still have one regular season game on the road next week, Myers said it has come across her mind that this might be her last game on Rudd Field.
“It’s definitely very bittersweet because it’s opening up the new chapter to the next part of our lives,” Myers said. “But at the same time we’re closing this chapter which has been really special to me and all the seniors.”
Carrieri added that it has been special playing with her fellow seniors for the last four years.
“I love playing with my class and my fellow seniors, I do everything for them and for this team,” Carrieri said. “Each game is really important and special to me so I just want to get as many games as we can moving forward.”
With that being said, the Phoenix still have an important road matchup against Towson University on Oct. 23 ahead of the CAA tournament, where Elon believes they could make some noise.
“We’re in a good position coming into Towson,” Myers said. “If we win against Towson we’re in a good position ranking wise so as long as everyone is willing to put in the effort, stay locked in, and go for the full 90 minutes, there’s nothing holding us back."
The Phoenix can still win the regular season CAA championship with a win over Towson and a draw between Monmouth and Northeastern. Carrieri said she is excited for the final few matches of the season.
“We have a really special team,” Carrieri added. “Everyone brings something to the table, so we just have to use that to our advantage.”