Appalachian State 0, Furman 0 (2 OT)
BOONE, N.C. - In yet another nail-biter finish, Appalachian State men's soccer (8-2-4, 3-0-2 SoCon) tied Southern Conference opponent Furman (11-2-4, 2-1-2 SoCon) in a scoreless game on Saturday night at ASU Soccer Stadium.
Appalachian extends its unbeaten streak to 11 (7-0-4), the third longest active streak in the country. New Mexico has gone 14 games (12-0-2) and Cornell has played 12 (8-0-4) without a loss.
"Our conference from top to bottom is touch," remarked head coach Matt Nelson. "To have played these teams without a loss is a credit to our guys and all the work they've put into practice. We've proven that we're solid defensively, but we need to clean up our attacking. Furman is a top team, and they played well today."
The back-and-forth game was highlighted by some spectacular plays at both ends. ASU's Sean Dreybus (Newport News, Va. / Warwick) tallied three shots with two on net, while Boubacar Toure (Atlanta, Ga. / Georgia Perimeter College) had a pair of shots.
Appalachian was bailed out early as Paladin Coleton Henning fired a shot off the post in the 13th minute. Furman's Martin Ontiveros recorded a game-high five shots, including a shot in the first overtime that deflected off a Mountaineer and caromed off the crossbar and out of play.
When the clock finally struck zero, Furman had outshot the Apps, 13-10, but the teams were relegated to a 0-0 draw for their efforts.
Appalachian keeper Danny Free (Doncaster, England / Hall Cross School) recorded five saves in goal. With his sixth shutout of the season, Free moves into a tie for fifth most clean slates in a season by a Mountaineer, one behind the program record of seven.
Entering the weekend, Appalachian was tabbed as the No. 5 team in the south region by the NSCAA, while Furman ranked No. 4. Furman also received votes in the NSCAA poll and was ranked as high as No. 22 (TopDrawerSoccer.com) in other surveys. Appalachian has not finished the season in the top 25 of any national poll since 1980.
In its last three home games, Appalachian has gone 1-0-2 against the three teams that tied for the SoCon regular-season title last season (UNCG, College of Charleston, FU).
Saturday's draw marks the first back-to-back tie for the Mountaineers since 2004 and is only the third time that the Apps have ever played consecutive games to no decision.
The tie breaks a streak of six-straight wins for FU in the Appalachian/Furman all-time series.
Appalachian is set for its final regular-season home game on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. against Wofford. As the league's only undefeated team, Appalachian State controls its own fate and can clinch an outright SoCon regular-season crown with wins in its next two games.
Davidson 1, Wofford 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Junior forward Andrew DiLallo tallied his first career goal and senior Chip Sanders tied the Davidson goalkeeper record for single-season shutouts as the Wildcats were victorious over Wofford, 1-0, in Southern Conference men's soccer action Saturday night at Alumni Stadium.
DiLallo's goal came in the 76th minute, as senior defender Hunter Hayes sent a long pass from the midfield into the six-yard box and DiLallo was able to head it over Wofford (4-10-1, 0-5 SoCon) goalkeeper Andrew Drennan.
Sanders made seven saves for Davidson (7-6-2, 2-1-1 SoCon) and recorded his eighth shutout of the season, tying the record set by Bart Creasman in 2003. As a team, the 2011 squad is two shutouts short of the single-season team record of 10, also set in 2003.
Drennan made five saves for the Terriers. Five different players had two shots to lead Wofford's balanced attack.
The Wildcats held the upper hand in possession and scoring chances with an 11-16 advantage in shots and an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks.
With the win, Davidson has just one loss in their last five matches.
Davidson will host three more crucial Southern Conference contests to conclude the regular season. The next match is Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Furman, a team ranked No. 23 by College Soccer News and receiving votes in other national Top-25 polls.
UNCG 1, College of Charleston 0
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's soccer team was downed, 1-0, by UNC Greensboro despite dominating possession and outshooting the Spartans at Patriots Point on Saturday night.
The Cougars suffered the loss despite a 16-7 shot advantage and putting eight shots on goal in the contest.
"I do think we played a pretty good game but we didn't have quality in the final play," said head coach Ralph Lundy. "We held the ball all night long and made passes all over the park but we didn't have quality around the goal.
"This is a funny game. You can dictate all the play and lose 1-0. We played a very good but needed more quality on the big play: the big pass, the final cross, the big shot; making the play. We lacked that here.
"The players who played tonight did a tremendous job. We took care of all of the game except that one segment."
Lundy did not dip into his injury-shortened bench and the starting 11 played the entire 90 minutes.
Spartan goalkeeper Peyton Ford earned his fifth shutout of the season which ties him for the second most in the Southern Conference. The Cougars peppered him and forced him to make seven saves, the most gleaming of which was when he fully extended to nudge a header by Tyler Vukoder (Tega Cay, S.C.) over the crossbar in the second half.
UNCG's mark came in the 12th minute when Oddur Gudmundsson kept a ball in play along the Cougar endline and centered it with a low, rolling cross which was one-touched into the net by Furman goal leader Hakan Ilhan.
The Cougars stay in SoCon play with a test against Elon on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. The Cougars will celebrate Senior Day before the match and honor the careers of Will Moore (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.), Kevin Cawthon (Easley, S.C.) and Rudi Hellberger (Summerville, S.C.).