Furman 1, Appalachian State 0

BOONE, N.C. ? For the second time in the span of a week, the Appalachian State men’s soccer team played a ranked opponent. Unfortunately the result was the same in the end as the Mountaineers fell to No. 17 Furman 1-0. It was a well-played match for the Apps who stayed level with the SoCon leader for 75 minutes on a chamber of commerce day in the High Country.

Appalachian falls to 6-5-2 on the season and 2-2 within the league. Furman improves to 12-1-0 this year and 5-0 in the SoCon.

“It was a battle today,” said head coach Paul Stahlschmidt. “Both teams were keeping it real tight and you could tell that whoever scored first would probably win. Our team was really prepared and very focused for the task I was happy with their hard work all week at practice.”

There was nothing between the teams in the first half with both squads playing stellar defense, bending but never breaking. Appalachian notched the matches first shot, with junior Paul Pessina missing wide. Furman led the shot totals entering halftime by a 5-4 margin.

After the intermission, it was much of the same with each team trading attacks. Furman scored the breakthrough in the 76th minute as Eliot Paschalis netted the goal to put the Paladins up 1-0. Appalachian battled through the last minutes searching for the equalizer, but came up empty in the end, dropping the 1-0 decision.

Senior Greg Walters played one of his best afternoons in goal this season, making five saves and only allowing one goal. Walters takes the loss and falls to 4-4-2 on the season.

The Mountaineers were outshot 11-8 overall and committed 16 fouls. Appalachian’s defense worked hard to catch Furman offsides 10 times in the match. Appalachian was only flagged once.

Appalachian will look to break their three match losing streak as they travel to face Davidson this Wednesday, October 17. The match kicks off at 7:00 p.m. Furman visits local rival Clemson Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.