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 matches 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 on 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.

Follow www.FurmanPaladins.com and www.Twitter.com/FurmanPaladins for updates on Furman Men's Soccer throughout the 2011 season.