CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In the first road match of the season, Jacksonville University's Patrick Harding had an incredible performance, racking up career-best 14 saves against Charlotte. But a long distance shot that just curled above Harding in the 50th minute kept the Dolphin men's soccer team from leaving North Carolina with a win. The 49ers bested JU 1-0.

"Give credit to a really tough Charlotte team," said Head Coach Mauricio Ruiz. "We knew it was going to be a battle. This is a tough place to play, and not many teams can come up here and get a result, so I'm proud of how our guys played a full 90 minutes in this environment. Even though we were outshot offensively, our effort defensively today bodes well heading into conference play."

Harding got to work early, earning his first save off a shot taken near the box following a corner kick in the fourth minute. The junior keeper then quickly added three more saves in less than 20 minutes, and snagged his fifth and sixth saves in the 26th and 28th minute, respectively. His final save of the half came in the 35th minute following another Niner corner. Allan Morgan attempted to give JU the lead in the 28th minute, but it skirted just high of the net.

The lone goal of the night came in the 50th minute, when Charlotte's Tommy Madden hammered a shot from 25 yards out that curled in to the upper right corner over Harding. JU's goalie then saved the next seven 49er shots on goal, totaling 14 for the night. This marks the first time a Dolphin keeper has had more than 12 saves in a game since 2005, when Paul Kehoe had 12 against Oregon State on Sep. 25. JU came close to an equalizer in the 74th minute when a free kick was headered towards the goal by Sam Gardner, but Charlotte's Austin Mullins earned his lone save of the day on that attempt.

The Dolphins return to action on Saturday, Sep. 23, in their ASUN Conference opener, at Florida Gulf Coast University. They'll then travel to Georgia Southern on the 27th to complete a match that was postponed from earlier this month thanks to Hurricane Irma. Jacksonville will finally return home Sep. 30, hosting Georgia State.