Greenville, S.C. -- Furman broke open a 1-0 halftime score line with four second half goals to claim a 5-0 victory over Georgia State and capture the tournament title Sunday afternoon at the Diadora/Spinx Gray Griffin Memorial Tournament on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium.

The victory, Furman's third straight, improved the Paladins to 3-1-0 on the season.  With its five goals, Furman matched College of Charleston on points and goal differential and claimed the tournament title via total goals scored.

Lewis Hawke, who earned tournament MVP honors, opened the scoring at the 14:18 mark with his second goal of the weekend.  Tony Santibanez curled a corner kick into the center of the box that Brendan Richardson headed towards goal.  Georgia State's CJ Cochran made a sprawling save, but Hawke hammered in the rebound to put Furman in front, 1-0.

Marco Ortiz doubled the Paladin lead in the 55th minute after Evan De Ycaza delivered a pass from the goal line outside the right side of the box that Ortiz drilled past the GSU (0-3-0) defense.  Just 69 seconds later, Ortiz found space down the right side and centered a pass to the top of the box where sophomore Bobby Edet chested down the pass and fired past Cochran to extend the lead to 3-0 at the 55:36 mark.

Freshman Cameron Robinson got in on the scoring with his first collegiate goal at 66:47.  Eric Steber lofted a long free kick towards the right side of the box and Robinson took advantage of a defensive miscommunication to step between two defenders and line a shot into the back of the net to give Furman a 4-0 cushion.

Hawke capped the five-goal outburst with his second goal of the match and third of the weekend in the 79th minute.  Santibanez got to the end line and played the ball back to Hawke at the top of the box before the Howwood, Scotland, native laced a shot past Cochran for the final tally.

Junior Sven Lissek notched one save in goal to earn his second shutout of the season for the Paladins.

Furman managed a 15-10 edge in shots and 10-1 advantage in shots on goal.

Cochran turned away five shots in a losing effort for the Panthers.

Earlier in the afternoon, College of Charleston rolled to a 4-0 victory over North Florida to finish 2-0-0 in the tournament and improve to 2-2-0 on the season.

Furman returns to the field on Friday when it travels to Conway, S.C., to face nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina.

Gray Griffin Memorial All-Tournament Team
Lewis Hawke (MVP), Furman
Brendan Richardson, Furman
Clint Ritter, Furman
Evan De Ycaza, Furman
Nico Rittmeyer, CofC
Troy Peterson, CofC
Brian Kilgallon, CofC
Diogo Quirino, UNF
Teddy Mulamba, UNF
Simen Solstad, UNF
Jad Elkhali, GSU
Aaron Jones, GSU



Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information