Chattanooga, Tenn. -- Senior Rachel Shelnutt headed in a Colleen Lynch cross less than three minutes into overtime to complete Furman's rally from a 3-1 deficit as the Paladins topped Chattanooga 4-3 in Southern Conference women's soccer action on Thursday evening at Finley Stadium.

Lynch, wide on the right wing, bent a cross to the middle of the box and Shelnutt hammered a header over the shoulder of Chattanooga goalkeeper Taylor Mangrum at the 92:10 mark for her eighth goal of the season and second of the night to stun a Lady Mocs squad that looked set to snap a 0-for-17 skid versus Furman less than 12 minutes earlier.

"Colleen had a great service into the box that I was just lucky to get my head on and finish," said Shelnutt of her third match-winning tally.  "Our team has so much heart.  We never gave up, and at the end of the day, we came away with a win because of our determination."

The win improved Furman to 8-5-1 overall and 3-1-1 in SoCon play, while the Lady Mocs slipped to 5-6-1 overall and 0-5-0 in the league.

"This was a tremendous come-from-behind win for our team tonight and I can't say enough about Rachel Shelnutt's effort," said Furman head coach Andrew Burr.  "Tonight Rachel was fearless like a honey badger, and she showed outstanding leadership, maturity and scored an unbelievable goal at the end to win it.  Coach JD Kyzer has put together a solid team at Chattanooga this season that has some outstanding attacking players and we feel fortunate to come out of here with three points."

The Lady Mocs took the lead just 5:56 into the match as Crystal Mackezyk took a Becca Smith pass and fired a 12-yard shot past Paladin keeper Holly Reilly.  Furman answered at the 10:47 mark when Shelnutt rounded her defender and placed her shot into the lower righthand corner to even the score at 1-1.

Chattanooga wasted little time in regaining control of the match.  Mackezyk played a long through ball into the path of Donna-Kay Henry who finished her chance in a one-v-one with Reilly to give the Lady Mocs a 2-1 advantage at 16:15.

Smith looked to have put the game away and handed Chattanooga its first ever triumph over Furman when she scored her 11th goal of the season off of a Henry assist in the 81st minute to up the lead to 3-1.  The Paladins, however, pushed everyone into the attack and trimmed the lead in half only 1:15 later when Dee Makris got on the end of an India Robinson corner kick to head in her first goal of 2011 at 81:43.

With under five minutes left on the clock, freshman Ali Simpson leveled the score at 3-3 with a 25-yard strike from the right side that she rocketed into the left corner for her third career goal to force overtime.

Reilly, making her first career start, stopped four shots to earn the victory in goal.  Mangrum turned away eight shots for Chattanooga while taking the loss.  The Paladins held a 19-15 edge in shot attempts, including a 12-7 advantage in shots on goal.

Furman returns to Stone Soccer Stadium to host the Samford Bulldogs in a key SoCon showdown on Sunday afternoon.  

"We are confident going into Sunday and ready to face Samford on our home field," said Shelnutt.  "Coming off of an exciting win like this puts us in a great position to keep moving forward and showing the SoCon what we have to offer."

Kickoff against the Bulldogs is set for 2 p.m.  Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for children while Furman students will be admitted for free with a valid Student ID.

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