• High Point University men's soccer suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of visiting Elon, for their first loss of the 2018 campaign
• Junior forward Jonathan Bolanos collected his second goal of the season, to open the scoring on Saturday night

HIGH POINT, N.C. - High Point University men's soccer took their first loss this Saturday, after a pair of first half goals from visiting Elon cemented a 2-1 final in favor of the visitors

It was an unsurprisingly physical affair between the two triad rivals, as the Panthers and the Phoenix combined for 15 fouls in the opening 45 minutes. With both sides testing each other's defenses, the home side would be the first to break the scoreless tie in the 20th minute on Jonathan Bolanos' second goal of the season. 

With his back to goal, junior forward Siggi Benonysson played a perfectly timed give-and-go with the streaking Bolanos, who banked his shot from inside the 18 off the left post and in.

The helper on the Bolanos tally was Benonysson's fifth of the year, and his fourth of the last three games, giving the Icelandic native an assist in all but one of his team's contests this year.

The Phoenix would be the ones to take a lead into the break however, equalizing things just a minute later, and putting away the go ahead in the 41st on a corner kick.

After getting outshot 6-1 in the opening 45 minutes, the Panthers ramped up their offensive pressure with five attempts at net, and a trio of shots on goal. After coming back from a two-goal deficit against UNCG earlier this week, the home side seemed destined for another come back. 

"I think goals change games." said Head Coach EJ O'Keeffe, when asked about Elon's late tally in the first. "I thought we had more of the ball in the second half but we weren't smart with that and they got behind it and again managed the game extremely well. Its a credit to them, we've got to learn from this and understand what we need to do and stick to that and grow as a group. That's why we play games like this, especially this early on, and we have to learn from it and get ready for the next one."

Bolanos nearly grabbed himself a brace with a strike from 20-plus yards out, and a pair of free kick opportunities for defenders Ryan Inman and Johnny Fenwick nearly granted an equalizer. The Elon keeper would maintain his team's one-goal advantage in the waning seconds however, and HPU would be forced to take its first loss of the 2018 season. 

>> Fenwick has played every minute of HPU's season thus far, while defenders Nick Phipps and Ryeong Choi played a full 90 against Elon
>> Bolanos' tally puts him at a pair of goals on the year, he trails only Ilias Kosmidis and Tony Pineda (3) for a team-high
>> Saturday's match was the first that the Panthers have been held to a single goal this year
>> Freshman defender Josh Dubost made the third appearance of his career after subbing in at the 60th minute

COMING UP NEXT
• The Panthers face their first power-five opponent of the season, traveling to Penn State for a 7 p.m. kickoff this Tuesday
• HPU has never played the Nittany Lions before, nor any other program currently in the Big 10