Furman 3, Georgia Southern 1
Greenville, S.C. -- The 26th-ranked Furman men's soccer team scored a pair of first half goals and held off a late Georgia Southern rally to top the Eagles, 3-1, in the Southern Conference home opener for the Paladins before a crowd of 1,616 on Tuesday evening at Stone Soccer Stadium.
With the victory, Furman improved to 9-2-2 overall and 1-1-0 in SoCon play. Georgia Southern, who had opened league play with wins over Davidson and College of Charleston, dropped to 6-4-1 overall and 2-1-0 in the SoCon.
"That's a great Southern Conference win against a good Georgia Southern team that has been in good form," said Furman head coach Doug Allison of his squad's ninth victory in their last 11 matches. "I'm very happy for Nikolai to get a great goal and it was a great effort by Coleton on the first goal."
Junior Coleton Henning put Furman in front in the 29th minute with his team-leading fourth goal of the season. Martin Ontiveros played a free kick from deep on the left wing into the center of the box that Walker Zimmerman flicked to the back post where Henning headed past GSU goalkeeper Ryan Platt at 28:07.
Hammer doubled the lead at 35:08 with his second collegiate goal. The freshman dribbled down the right channel and lined a shot past the approaching keeper into the far left side to up the margin to 2-0.
The second half saw an increase in physical play as five of the match's seven yellow cards were handed out in the final 45 minutes, including four on the night to Georgia Southern players. The Eagles pulled themselves back into the match with just 2:41 remaining when Witt Carlisle tapped in a loose ball at the right post off of Drew Ruggles free kick to trim the margin to 2-1.
With Georgia Southern's keeper pulled into the attack as the Eagles tried to equalize in the final minute, Ontiveros finished off the match pouncing on a clearance and dribbling around the last defender to deposit his shot into an empty net for his third tally of the campaign.
Furman managed a 17-8 edge in shot attempts, including a commanding 12-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Paladins earned seven corner kicks to the Eagles' four. Platt recorded nine saves for Georgia Southern while Alec Kann earned the victory in goal for Furman with three saves.
The Paladins continue Southern Conference play on Saturday evening when they travel to Mt. Pleasant, S.C., to face College of Charleston. Kickoff against the Cougars is set for 7 p.m.
Elon 2, Wofford 0
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Two own goals in the second half of play doomed the Wofford men's soccer team, as the Terriers fell by a 2-0 score to Elon at Snyder Field Tuesday evening. Wofford drops to 3-6-1 overall and 0-2 in Southern Conference play.
The first own goal took place in the 59th minute of play following a corner kick by Elon's Gabe Latigue, which accidentally got knocked into the goal by a Wofford player trying to clear the ball out from the penalty box.
In the 81st minute, another play took place within the penalty box, which resulted with the ball being deflected into the goal off of a Wofford player.
Play was extremely physical throughout the entire contest, as a total of 32 fouls and five yellow cards were distributed among the two teams.
In the first half of play, the Terriers nearly scored in the 7th minute, as Forrest Lasso sent a shot that bounced off the right goal post following a throw in by Billy Padula. Carlos Dominguez Gonzalez gathered the deflection and put the ball in the back of the net, but the Terriers were ruled offsides.
Andrew Drennan takes the loss for Wofford, tallying three saves while facing a total of 10 shots. Nathan Dean picks up the win for the Phoenix, earning two saves and facing 5 total shots.
Wofford returns to action Friday afternoon, as the squad travels to Statesboro, Ga. to take on Georgia Southern. The match is set for a start time of 1:00 p.m.
Duke 1, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Andrew Wenger, the nation's leading scorer, scored an early second half goal to give Duke a 1-0 victory over Davidson in non-conference men's soccer action Tuesday night in front of 1,309 fans in Alumni Stadium.
After a scoreless first half, Wenger was able to score in the 48th minute. Senior defender Allen Page appeared to make a goal line save inside the left post on Wenger's shot from 10 yards out, but the ball had just enough forward momentum to trickle over the line inside the right post.
Both teams had opportunities to score in the first half. Duke's Andrew Morales had a shot ring off the crossbar in the ninth minute, while Davidson senior Garrett Bostwick had a shot from 10 yards out that Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw needed to make a diving save to stop.
Davidson senior goalkeeper Chip Sanders matched his season-high of five saves, while Belshaw made three stops for the Blue Devils.
Davidson heads to Elon Saturday for their second Southern Conference game of the season, and then faces another conference foe in UNCG Wednesday, Oct. 12. The ‘Cats return home Saturday, Oct. 15 to host Longwood.