2013 SoCon Tournament Bracket

Greenville, S.C. – Wofford scored a pair of goals in the opening 13 minutes to down 14th-ranked Furman, 2-0 and claim the Southern Conference regular season title before a crowd of 2,157 in men's soccer action Saturday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium.

The top-seeded Terriers capped the regular season at 10-5-1 overall and 5-1-0 in league play to earn a bye in the opening round of the SoCon Tournament.  Furman, 10-4-2 overall and 2-2-2 in SoCon play, will hosts Davidson in the SoCon Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday, November 9, at 7:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to face Wofford on November 15, at Stone Stadium in the semifinals.

Wofford produced all the offense it would need in the opening minutes of the match.  After earning a throw-in in the attacking third in the fourth minute, Billy Padula hurled a long throw to the top of the six-yard box that Forrest Lasso headed home to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead at 3:42.

In the 13th minute, Matthew Aurednik was played behind the Paladin defense a fired a shot around the charging goalkeeper that rattled the right post before Aurednik won the race to the loose ball and tapped in his fifth goal of the season to give Wofford a 2-0 lead at 12:48.

A stunned Furman side had its best chance of the first half with just 18 minutes before intermission when Marco Ortiz unleashed a shot inside the box that was blocked.  The ball trickled to Martin Ontiveros who bent a shot towards the upper right corner, but Wofford goalkeeper Garrett Closs deflected the shot off of the cross bar and out of danger.

In the second half, Furman began to control the run of play began to pressure the Wofford defense, but the Paladins were only able to force Closs into one save down the stretch.  With 23 minutes remaining in regulation, freshman Dylan Rowe made a run up the left side and weaved his way into the box only to see Closs smother his low driving shot.  Ontiveros threatened again in the 77th minute.  After Furman earned a free kick, Ontiveros curled a shot off of the cross bar only to have Wofford clear the danger once again.

Furman finished with an 8-7 edge in shots while the Terriers held a 4-2 advantage in shots on goal.

Trent Johnson took the loss for Furman after making a pair of saves.  Closs improved to 6-6 in net for Wofford.

Live statistics for Saturday's SoCon Tournament showdown with Davidson will be available by logging onto www.FurmanPaladins.com.  Fans can follow @FurmanSoccer and @FurmanPaladins for in-game updates from the match.