On Aug. 21, the ETSU men’s soccer team had an exhibition match against Elon University, where the Bucs were able to complete the shutout with a score of 3-0.
After the exhibition match against King University was cancelled on Aug. 15, the Bucs came ready to play in what was their last preseason game before the official season begins.
Sophomore David Kovacic (Krsko, Slovenia) started things off quickly for the Bucs with a direct free kick in just the third minute of action.
The second goal of the match came as junior Tarik Pannholzer (Flensburg, Germany) showed off his elite foot work as he dribbled past three Elon defenders to then set up senior Kieran Richards (Hamilton, New Zealand) for the easy goal. Pannholzer is the sole member of the team to make the Southern Conference Preseason All-Conference Team.
“David Kovacic and Tarik Pannholzer were directly involved in two of the goals and had excellent performances. The highlight was the team spirit and the maturity to get a result on the road against a very good opponent who had a couple thousand fans at the game,” said head coach David Lilly.
The third and final goal was a result of an own goal by the Elon center back. A diagonal pass from Kovacic towards Pannholzer was intercepted and knocked into an empty net.
“It was an excellent team performance. All eyes are now focused on our home opener,” said Lilly.
The Bucs look to carry the momentum from the preseason win and will open up the season inside Summers-Taylor stadium on Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. against the Longwood Lancers.
This makes the second year in a row where ETSU has started their campaign against Longwood. Last year, Pannholzer scored late in the game to secure the 1-0 victory against the Lancers.
