The North Carolina men’s soccer (6-4-3) fell to the Elon Phoenix (9-3-2), 3-0, Tuesday night at Rudd Field.
What happened?
The Phoenix put pressure on early, taking the initial possession away from UNC and working the ball into their attacking third. On Elon’s first attack, sophomore midfielder Scott Vante blasted a shot from outside the goal box, which fell into the hands of redshirt first-year goalie Andrews Cordes.
Ten minutes later North Carolina’s offense would break through with two shots in a 19-second span. First-year defender Benjamin Kabeya’s boot appeared promising but graduate goalie Ryan Bilichuk made the save.
In the 29th minute, the Phoenix would snap the standstill. After receiving a cross-pitch pass, Mason Duval found himself one step behind UNC’s backline and the senior forward blasted a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Both squad’s attacking units would go cold for the remainder of the first period, and Elon entered the half leading by one.
Out of the break, both offenses remained quiet. It took until the 81st for the next shot to be taken, when junior forward Jack Dolk’s header snuck past the outstretched arm of Cordes. Dolk’s first goal of the year helped the Phoenix open up a two-goal lead.
Moments later, Dolk found himself with another promising opportunity. After working the ball into UNC’s goal box, Vante lined a cross-box pass to Dolk, who chipped in Elon’s third goal with his right foot.
The late goal proved to be the final scoring play of the night, and the Tar Heels dropped the midweek tilt, 3-0.