Elon men’s soccer opened conference play with a 1-1 draw against the College of William & Mary on Aug. 30 at Rudd Field. 

But things didn’t start off strong for the Phoenix. The Tribe’s Brown Huffard scored in the first two minutes of the game. Head coach Marc Reeves said he was frustrated with Elon's opening to the match. 

“Hugely disappointed to start the game that way, give up a goal a 1:30 in,” Reeves said. “I was impressed with their energy levels and their effort and their ability to create good chances against us. We're disappointed with the way we defended, but we did have some really good looks at the end there.”

Although Elon’s defense responded by keeping the Tribe scoreless after the goal, they struggled to connect passes and cash in on opportunities on the offensive side. 

“I thought we actually dealt with it fairly well,” Reeves said. “I thought we created some good looks in the first half as well. But our dead ball delivery, our set piece delivery, was really poor.” 

Elon’s offense started the second half strong with direct passes and clean shots on the goal. Both Senior Joe Taylor and redshirt junior Dominik Renz had some looks on goal that just didn’t connect. 

Redshirt junior Drew Hartman, making his second start in goal, had some quality saves in the second half, giving Elon a fighting chance.

With 17 minutes left to play, junior Weston Jonke had a corner pass to sophomore Magnus Jacobsen for a goal to tie the game 1-1. 

“I just saw the ball come in. I had Tonnes in front of me screen the first man, and then I saw the ball lay near me and then I just gave it all I got,” Jacobsen said. 

In the final few moments, Elon and William & Mary went head-to-head to try to score a goal in the last few seconds, but both teams came up short. 

Elon was able to secure the 1-1 tie, moving their record to 1-1-1. The Phoenix will look to capture their next win against the University of North Carolina, Wilmington,  on the road Sept. 5th. 

Until then, Reeves has some things he thinks the team can improve on.

“We're a little off in our defensive intensity,” Reeves said. We're not closing the ball quick enough. We're not turning into people and defending hard enough.” “We're just not a gritty enough team right now. We have some good technique and some good possession elements, but we need to be a tougher group to break down. We are giving up way too many goals. So, we'll be working on that a lot this week.”