Furman 8, Presbyterian 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Freshman Bobby Edet netted a hat trick and Furman’s freshman and sophomore classes accounted for all eight goals in the Paladins’ 8-0 victory over Presbyterian before a crowd of 1,906 on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium on Friday night.
The win was the largest by a Paladin team since scoring an 8-0 victory versus The Citadel on Nov. 1, 2000. Furman improved to 3-1-0 on the season, while the Blue Hose slipped to 2-2-0.
Edet, who scored the first hat trick by a Paladin since Debola Ogunseye netted three goals versus Coastal Carolina in 2009, opened his account in the eighth minute inside the 6-yard box on assists from Dylan Rowe and Martin Ontiveros.
At the 21-minute mark, Ontiveros played a ball to Evan De Ycaza, and the freshman chipped a pass into the path of fellow freshman Marco Ortiz, who slotted his shot past the goalkeeper to double the Furman lead. Just 48 seconds later, Paladin goalkeeper Sven Lissek delivered a free kick from his own half over the PC defense and Edet volleyed a shot past Blue Hose goalkeeper Tyler Beadle to push the margin to 3-0.
Sophomore newcomer Lewis Hawke scored the first of his two goals on the night in the 53rd minute. Tyler Peoples was played through on the keeper. His shot was saved, but Hawke stepped up to touch a shot into the empty net to increase the lead to 4-0 at 52:42. Less than five minutes later, Dylan Rowe sprinted forward to run onto a Lissek long ball and volley past the PC keeper to make it 5-0 in favor of the Paladins.
Freshman Eli Pinner tallied his second goal in as many games in the 69th minute by running onto a loose ball, dribbling by two defenders at the top of the box and firing to the right-hand corner to beat reserve goalkeeper Johnny Archer of Presbyterian.
Edet finished his hat trick at the 73:55 mark by redirected a low De Ycaza cross to the far corner, and Hawke capped the scoring at 79:20 on a Josh Lietch assist for the final 8-0 margin.
Furman managed a 25-5 edge in shots and 16-1 advantage in shots on goal. Lissek made one save to earn the win before giving way to Trent Johnson in goal in the 58th minute. Beadle recorded seven saves for the Blue Hose.
The Paladins conclude their homestand by hosting undefeated Vermont at noon on Sunday. The Catamounts moved to 4-0-2 with a 2-0 win at College of Charleston on Friday night.
Georgia Southern 3, Stetson 0
MACON, Ga. – Georgia Southern’s men's soccer team scored two first-half goals and added a third in the 73rd minute to win the opener of the Mercer Tournament 3-0 over the Stetson Hatters.
Eric Dinka got the scoring started with a 10th-minute goal off a pass from Witt Carlisle to stake Georgia Southern (2-2) to an early lead. Emmanuel Raji tacked on a second goal right before halftime in the 41st minute. Raji nailed a shot off of a cross from David Vargas Masis. Hunter Norton capped the scoring with his first goal of the season off of a free kick in the second half.
On the defensive end, Neal Bates kept Stetson (1-3-1) out of the net with five saves. Bates played all 90 minutes in the cage and helped the Eagles post their second win of the season.
The Hatters outshot GSU 7-6 in the first half, but the Eagles won the final tally 15-13. Stetson recorded eight corner kicks to Georgia Southern's five but was carded for two yellow cards and a red card, which led to the second-half goal.
Reed and Hunter Norton paced GSU with three shots each, while three other Eagles tallied two shots in the match. Steven Saballos led the Hatters with three shots.
Georgia Southern returns to the field Sunday and will face the homestanding Mercer Bears at 7 p.m. in the finale of the Mercer Tournament.