ELON, N.C. - Old Dominion men’s soccer shared the spoils in tonight’s game against Elon, 0-0 on Monday night at Rudd Field.
Old Dominion (1-0-1) outshot the Phoenix (0-0-1) nine to eight, but Elon had one more corner kick with four total to the Monarchs’ three. Elon had three shots on target to the Monarchs’ one.
“I’m proud of the guys tonight,” said ODU Head Coach Tennant McVea. “We dominated for spells in the game but Elon was always dangerous on the counter and they made us work for our clean sheet tonight. We didn’t create enough clear-cut chances in their final third and ultimately, we need to be better in the opposition's 18 if we want to win a lot of games.”
ODU’s Michael Statham came away with a shutout and made the first save of the game off a shot by Einar Ness in the 25th minute that went towards the middle of the net. Evan Watt had the cleanest attempt on goal after a free kick routine saw the defender from York, Pennsylvania head the ball from an in-swinging cross. Michael Eberle had a shot go off target, Miguel Menendez had one blocked, and Abdou Magib-So’s attempt was also stifled at the point of contact. Elon was able to muster only one shot in the first half and saw Weston Jonke receive a yellow card for unsporting behavior.
Old Dominion’s Micah Wayland had an attempt at the Phoenix’s goal five minutes into the second half but it rose over the bar. Elon’s Connor Mucchetti had a shot blocked by ODU’s defense in the 55th minute. In the 59th minute a free kick attempt saw Jett Aktan climb the ladder with Elon’s goalkeeper Jackson Leavitt to get an attempt on goal. A foul was called on Wayland and a scrum emerged which saw Elon’s Carlos Levy and ODU’s Jake Lane awarded yellow cards for unsporting behavior. The 68th minute saw a chance from ODU’s Lewis Rourke go wide and off the mark before Elon’s Jordin Wilson had a crack at the apple, but also saw his attempt at goal go off target. Alex Kryazhev had ODU’s final shot of the game in the 77th minute, but it was blocked by Elon’s defense. Barrett Saul was shown a yellow card shortly after in the same minute.
Elon had the final three shots of the game and ODU’s defense came up big. Statham made a save outstretched to his right and a follow up attempt by Mucchetti was blocked at the point of contact. Elon’s Martin Kozak had the final look at goal, but ODU held firm and blocked the shot to secure the 0-0 draw.
“We return home with a point and a big game to look forward to against VCU on Friday,” added McVea.
Statham ended the game with three saves and the clean sheet with 90 minutes in goal. Leavitt also came away with the shutout but did not make a save in his 90 minutes of action. Teagan Dunne, Marcelo Randolf, Aktan, and Watt all played a full 90 minutes.
The Monarchs return to Norfolk for their next meeting against in-state rival VCU on Friday, August 29 at 7 p.m. at the ODU Soccer Stadium.