GREENSBORO, N.C. – A combination of energy and timely scoring proved to be the winning formula for the UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's soccer team in its 2-0 victory over Elon in a non-conference contest Sunday.
 
The Spartans captured its third straight victory behind their stifling defense, which produced their second consecutive shutout. Playing his first career collegiate contest Niclas Wild made two saves to help UNCG raise its overall record to 3-0.
 
"We're defending really well and not conceding a lot of chances," UNCG head coach Chris Rich said. "Tonight, required a gritty performance and that's what I asked the guys for today. Elon is a well-coached team. They're always up for this game and very competitive. We needed to defend well and that was a collective effort. The subs brought a lot of energy to the midfielders to the back four."
 
Offensively, the Spartans received a boost from Mani Austman, who converted a penalty kick in the 38th minute and Fernando Garcia, who scored off of a scramble in the 49th minute to lead the Spartan offense. Garcia has three goals to lead UNCG.
 
However, the story of this game was the Spartan defense. With Ethan Conley, Myson Darden, Matthew Cutler, Emmanuel Hagan, Matthew Skinner, and Sam Coad leading the way, the Spartans didn't allow many quality scoring opportunities for Elon. This was Hagan's first start of the season.
 
UNCG hasn't allowed a goal in 254 minutes of game action.
 
"Collectively they were outstanding tonight, which led to another clean sheet," Rich said. "I thought the first 15 or 20 minutes of the first half, I thought Elon was better and they had more energy than us. We were not brave in possession and turned the ball over too easily. We made it difficult for ourselves, but credit Elon.
 
"Once we got the penalty kick, it changed the momentum and then we made some adjustments as a staff at intermission. Those adjustments were big. The key in the second half was we brought so much energy."