Late goal helps Furman Men’s Soccer knock off #2 seed Wofford in SoCon semis, will host Mercer for championship
The Furman Paladins men’s soccer team kept their championship hope alive against the Wofford Terriers on Sunday afternoon, coming up clutch with a 1-0 victory in the Southern Conference tournament semi-final.
The Paladins (10-5-3, 2-2-1) entered the tournament as the #3 seed and took care of business in the quarterfinals, handling 6 seeded VMI score. The Terriers (7-4-6, 3-0-2) came in as the #2 seed and received a first round bye directly into the semifinals as a result of their regular season conference record.
The contest was a defensive masterpiece for both teams, as neither team cracked the scoreboard for the entirety of the first half. Furman only garnered 5 total shots on goal for the contest, but they still dominated Wofford in that category as the Terriers only managed one shot on goal in all 90 minutes of play.
After a back and forth defensive standoff for the first 80 minutes, Furman finally broke the ice with a goal from midfielder Alfredo Diaz-Santillan in the 80th minute. In such a low scoring contest, the lone goal proved to be insurmountable for the Terriers.
Furman goalkeeper Aaron Salinas pitched the shutout with one save and no goals allowed while Wofford goalie Victor Cameron accumulated 4 saves but allowed the eventual game winning goal.
Oddly enough, the score was the same as the last game of the regular season merely a week ago where Furman fell to the Terriers 1-0 on the road. This time around, however, the ball bounced Furman’s way, and as a result the Paladins will have the opportunity to secure their 16th Southern Conference title next weekend.
Furman will host the tournament’s #5 seed Mercer (who defeated #1 seed ETSU in penalty kicks earlier this afternoon) in Stone Stadium next Sunday for the Southern Conference championship game.
