Furman vs. Wofford Photo Gallery

Greensboro, N.C. -- Sophomore Marco Ortiz scored in the 13th minute and Furman's Sven Lissek notched his league-best 10th shutout of the season as the Paladins topped Wofford, 1-0, in the Southern Conference men's soccer semifinals on Thursday night at UNCG Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

The third-seeded Paladins (11-5-3) advance to face the winner of tonight's UNCG/Mercer match in the SoCon finals on Saturday.  Kickoff for the championship match at UNCG Stadium is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on ESPN3.

"Any win this time of year is great," said Paladin head coach Doug Allison.  "It's good to beat Wofford with a team win.  We have one more game to go to get into the NCAA's."

Furman entered Thursday's match having been eliminated from the SoCon Tournament by the Terriers in each of the past two seasons and carrying a five-match losing streak against Wofford, but the Paladins grabbed the upper hand quickly.  Junior Kevin Pahl carried the ball into the left side of the box and played a pass back to the middle of the box through two Wofford defenders to Ortiz who unleashed a left-footed shot from eight yards out to beat Terrier goalkeeper Joe Wichmann at 12:46.  The goal marked the second of the season for Ortiz, while Pahl notched his team-best fifth assist of the season.

The Paladins were forced to defend for much of the rest of the match and turned away a dangerous chance for Wofford just minutes later when Lissek dove to deny Wofford's Nestor Jaramillo an equalizing goal on a bending free kick.  In the 21st minute Jaramillo played a ball behind Lissek inside the six-yard box to Carlos Dominguez-Gonzalez, but Furman's Eric Steber cleared his attempted off of the line.

Wofford (11-6-1) appeared to have tallied the tying score in the 38th minute off of a set piece before the referee whistled the Terriers for a foul in the box.  Junior Tony Santibanez continued the defensive heroics in the 77th minute by clearing Matthew Aurednik's header off of the line.

Lissek finished with three saves to earn the win in net.  His 10th shutout of the season tied in for third on the SoCon's single season shutouts ledger, while moving the Sewau, Germany, native into a tie for ninth in league history with his 19th career clean sheet.

Wofford posted a 13-6 edge in shot attempts and 5-2 advantage in shots on goal, but saw its chances of a late rally begin slip away at the 85-minute mark when its was reduced to 10 men after Connor Davis was shown his second yellow card of the night.

With the victory, Furman reached the SoCon Tournament finals for the 15th time in school history and first since the 2010 campaign.

Fans can log onto FurmanPaladins.com to follow live statistics of Saturday's championship match and access links to ESPN3's live stream.  Live in-game updates will be available on Twitter by following @FurmanSoccer.

The winner of Saturday's final earns the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information