Sports > October 2, 2008

By Connor Swarbrick | Sports editor

In a showdown of the best two teams in men’s college soccer the top-ranked, defending National Champion Deacons disposed of the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins with a 4-2 victory.

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Senior Michael Lahoud battles a UCLA player during a game Sept. 5. The No. 1 Deacs defeated the No. 2 Maryland Terrapins to move to 2-0 in the ACC and Elon to extend their streak to 35 non-conference games without a loss. (Kelly Makepeace / Old Gold & Black)

The Terrapins (6-2-0) hosted the game, which was broadcast on the Fox Soccer Channel, in front of a record crowd of 6,500 at Ludwig Field. Few teams are able to prevail at Ludwig Field, but the Deacons out-shot the Terrapins 18-11. Nine of the Deacons shots were on goal compared to seven for Maryland.

The Terrapins sent the record crowd into a frenzy when they scored just 50 seconds into the match.

Rodney Wallace of Maryland crossed a ball from the left side of the box and found teammate Jason Herrick who headed the ball past junior Deacon Keeper Akira Fitzgerald 10 yards out from the net.

Senior Marcus Tracy was able to even the match at one a piece just minutes later at the 6:19 mark when he scored his seventh goal of the season.

Tracy received a pass on the right side of the box from sophomore Corben Bone and he beat the Terrapin keeper driving the ball into the top of the net.

The Terrapins had no intention of rolling over. They retook the lead with 16:44 remaining in the first half. Casey Townsend scored an unassisted goal when he fired a shot from just outside the six-yard box that found the back of the net.

The Deacons knotted the scored at 2-2 in the 41st minute when freshman Danny Wenzel sent a ball from the near midfield in Ike sophomore Opara’s direction. The six-foot, two-inch Opara used his head to beat the Terrapin goalkeeper, Will Swaim, who led the ACC in goals against average (0.25), and square the match.

The second half began just as the first did, tied, but not for long. This time it was the Deacons whostruck first. Senior Mike Lahoud played a cross to junior Austin da Luz from the far right side of the field. Da Luz found a streaking junior Zack Schilawski down the middle of the field.

Schilawski fired from 10 yards out giving the Deacons a 3-2 advantage, their first lead of the contest.

The Deacons were able to extend their lead to two when Tracy found da Luz on the left side of the box with 31:49 remaining in the contest. Da Luz fired a shot from 16 yards out that found the back of the net for his second goal of the season.

Da Luz nearly added another goal with 23 minutes remaining when he sent a ball of the near post. The deflection was headed for the net when Omar Gonzalez cleared the ball.

Da Luz’s goal and assist in the highly anticipated match earned him ACC Men’s Soccer Player of the Week and Soccer America Men’s Player of the Week.

Tracy and senior Lyle Adams have also earned the ACC honors this season.

With the win the Deacons moved to 8-0-0, their best start to a season in school history.

Last year it was Elon who first blemished the team’s perfect 7-0 record and they would again try to play the role of spoiler this year. The Deacons traveled to Elon (2-6-1) Oct. 1.

The Phoenix were coming off three straight losses, two of which were to No. 15 UNC-Chapel Hill and No. 27 Charlotte and, they were looking to rebound with a big victory.

Head Coach Jay Vidovich told his players not to be fooled by Elon’s record that they were a dangerous team.

It was an especially interesting game for senior midfielder Jamie Franks who lined up against his brother Brad Franks who plays for the Phoenix.

The Deacons’ offense came out firing. They outshot the Phoenix 21 to five.

Ten of the Deacons’ 21 shots were on goal.

Junior Zack Schilawski scored the first goal for the Deacs with 30 minutes remaining in the first half.

Schilawski scored his third goal of the season when he headed the ball from just outside the six-yard box to give the Deacs the 1-0 advantage. Bone and Franks were credited with assists.

Junior Cody Arnoux was one-on-one with the Phoenix keeper with 4:30 remaining in the first half but he was unable to convert.

Despite a distinct lead in shots, the Elon defense was stout and held the Deacons to only the one goal in the first half.

But, in the 59th minute Schilawski struck again to put the Deacs up 2-0.

The goal was Schilawski’s fourth of the season and gave him his fourth multi-goal game of this career.

Senior forward Marcus Tracy played a pass to Schilawski who fired from just outside the six-yard box and beat the keeper on the right side to make the match 2-0.

Last year’s leading scorer junior Cody Arnoux padded the Deacons’ lead when he made it 3-0 in the 65th minute scoring his second goal of the season.

Tracy got his second assist of the evening when he played a pass to Arnoux who stuck the ball inside the left post.

Arnoux and Schilawski both had six shots whereas no one on the Elon team had more than one.

Junior keeper Akira Fitzgerald had seven saves en route to recording his sixth shutout of the season. Fitzgerald also picked up a yellow card in the 35th minute.

The Deacons return home and look to maintain their flawless record Oct. 4 when they play host to the Virginia Tech Hookies at 7 p.m. at Spry Stadium.

The Hookies are 3-5-1 will face the 9-0-0 Deacons for the first time since the semifinals of the 2007 College Cup.

The game will be aired live on the web by ACC Select.

For the second straight year, the Deacons will host the youth 3v3 Grassroot Soccer Tournament to benefit AIDS awareness in Africa.