DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -
Sigurbergur Elisson's 10th goal of the season helped the 11th-ranked Embry-Riddle Men's Soccer team to the Eagles' 10th win of 2013 as the second minute score held up for a 1-0 victory over visiting Webber International on Saturday.
Nils Carlson made eight saves en route to his 18th career shutout, breaking the program record set by Viktor Bergstrand in 2009. Embry-Riddle (10-1, 8-0) remains perfect in Sun Conference action and has guaranteed itself a home match for the first round of The Sun Conference Tournament (Nov. 9) while the Warriors (7-3, 4-3) dropped their second consecutive match, and third of their last four.
Embry-Riddle recognized the seven seniors on the 2013 roster at halftime of the contest as
Ally MacDonald,
Alan Vezza,
Jacob Stevenback,
Viktor Gudnason,
Erik Norburg,
Luis Velasquez and
Nicklas Petersson competed in the final regular season home match of their careers.
The only score of the game came just 104 seconds into the action when a cross from Petersson into the WIU box was shouldered from
Veit Couturier to a waiting Elisson who easily punctuated the play with his seventh score in the last two weeks, and extended his scoring streak to five games, while his point streak moved to eight consecutive contests.
Despite the early goal, the visitors had the better chances the rest of the first half, registering nine shots in the frame compared to just five for the Eagles. In the eighth minute the Warriors were denied twice in a row by Carlson as Mark Araugo's shot was saved and the ensuing rebound fell to Vicente Munoz whose shot was similarly saved by the junior keeper.
Couturier nearly put the home team up by two at the 21:10 mark, but his shot from just inside the box went wide right by a foot, leaving the score at 1-0.
Sam Willians had a pair of headers saved by Carlson in the 27th and 28th minutes, and in the 39th minute Carlson came up big again, keeping the Blue and Gold in front with a save on Fabian Egger's shot.
The second half was dominated by Embry-Riddle as the Eagles turned up the pressure on the Warrior defense, recording 14 shots, three of which were on goal. The Blue and Gold kept the ball in the WIU half for most of the second period, earning five corner kicks in the frame, while the Warriors managed none.
In the 58th minute the Eagles appeared to go up 2-0, but a late offsides call kept the Warriors just one goal down.
For 20 mintues in the middle of the second half the Eagles did not allow Webber International to record a shot, tallying 10 of their own, but were unable to capitalize.
Carlson made one of his eight saves in the 77th minute when Thomas Niggl's header looked destined for the back of the net and the Eagle defense was up the task in the 86th minute when a pair of Niggl's shots were blocked by Embry-Riddle defenders.
A final flurry from the Warriors in the last 60 seconds was put to rest by Carlson with his final two saves of the evening as the Eagles stretched their winning streak to nine.
The Eagles wrap up their 2013 league slate with two road contests next week in Georgia, beginning on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. contest against SCAD Savannah and concluding with a 2 p.m. game against Thomas on Saturday.
