Greenville, S.C. – Freshman Eli Pinner fired a shot into the lower left-hand corner in the 94th minute to give the Furman men's soccer team a 1-0 victory over College of Charleston in the Gray Griffin Memorial Game Saturday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium.

After over 93 minutes of scoreless soccer, Pinner, who trotted on the field for his first collegiate action just moments earlier, rifled a 30-yard strike past College of Charleston goalkeeper Alex Young to improve the Paladins to 2-1-0 on the season and drop the Cougars to 1-2-0.

"It was a typically hard-fought match with Charleston and our crowd was outstanding tonight," said Furman head coach Doug Allison.  "Eli Pinner comes off of the bench for the first time and scores a great goal.  I told the guys that this one was for Gray (Griffin).  It felt like we had a 12th man with us tonight."

Saturday's game was named in honor of former Paladin defender and United States Under-17 National Team captain, Gray Griffin, who was killed in a traffic accident in October of 2002 during his freshman year at Furman.  The 2001 and 2002 NSCAA and Parade All-America selection played in and started the first 12 matches of the 2002 campaign for Furman.

The Furman defense limited the Cougars to just one shot on goal while compiling a 4-1 advantage on shots on goal and 16-7 lead in total shots on Saturday night.

College of Charleston produced its best  chance of the match early in the first half when Xavier Rajpaul collected the ball on the right side of the box and banged a shot off of the right post.  The Paladins forced Young into a pair of first half saves and had a possible call for a penalty kick waved off after Josh Lietch rounded his man in the box and went to the ground.

Furman increased the pressure on Charleston's defense in the second half as the Paladins outshot the Cougars 9-3.  Senior Michael Gandier got a head on the end of a set piece only to miss wide and Martin Ontiveros saw a dangerous free kick from the left side go wide of the near post midway through in the second half.

Pinner, who did not appear in Furman's first two matches of the campaign, took the field for overtime.  On just his second touch of the night, he settled the ball in space beyond the top of the box and lined a shot through traffic to the corner for the winning strike.

Sophomore Sven Lissek notched one save to earn his first career clean sheet in goal for the Paladins.  Young totaled three saves in a losing effort for the Cougars.

Furman continues its three-game homestand next weekend when it hosts Presbyterian and Vermont.  The Paladins entertain the Blue Hose at 7 p.m. on Friday before welcoming the Catamounts to Stone Stadium at noon on Sunday, September 15.

Tickets for each game are $4 for adults and $2 for children.  Furman students get in free with a valid student ID card.  

Fans can follow live statistics for each match and live streaming video of Furman's home matches by logging onto www.FurmanPaladins.com.  In-game updates will be available via Twitter by following @FurmanSoccer.