2015 SoCon Women's Soccer Championship Bracket

Macon, Ga. -- Freshman Kristian Leone punched in senior Kristen Baker's corner kick at the far post in the 76th minute to lift the Furman women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Mercer in the regular season finale for both schools on Sunday afternoon at Bear Field in Macon, Ga.

With its sixth consecutive victory, Furman (14-4-1, 7-1-1 SoCon) clinched a second place finish in the Southern Conference and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SoCon Women's Soccer Championship. The Citadel will play at Wofford on Wednesday in opening round play with the winner advancing to face Furman at Stone Soccer Stadium on Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinal round.

"I'm very proud of our team for going on the road and getting the result we needed against a very good Mercer team," said Paladin head coach Andrew Burr. "We've talked a lot about battling for the full 90 minutes, especially in these Sunday afternoon games, and this team certainly did that today."

Furman dominated the possession in the opening 45 minutes and outshot the Bears 7-2 in the first period, but the two teams headed to intermission knotted at 0-0.  In a match that lacked many clear cut scoring chances, Mercer created a pair of corner kick opportunities in the early portion of the second half that Furman cleared from danger.

In the 76th minute, Furman broke on the counter attack, played the ball out to the right and earned a corner kick when a Paladin shot was deflected wide.  Baker curled an inswinging corner kick with her left foot to the far left post where three Paladins were bearing down on goal. Leone got her foot to the ball off the bounce and punched a shot past Mercer goalkeeper Maggie Cropp for her second goal of the season.

The Paladins survived a couple of late attacks into the Furman box in the final minutes to secure the win and second place finish in the conference standings.

Senior Maggie Grisell stopped four shots to register her eighth shutout of the season and improve to 13-2-1 in goal.  Cropp turned away three shots in a losing effort for Mercer.

The Paladins fashioned a 12-8 advantage in total shot attempts, while both teams recorded four shots on goal.

Next Sunday's quarterfinal round match at Stone Stadium will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network with live statistics available through StatBroadcast. Links for both and ticket information will be posted at FurmanPaladins.com. Furman will also host the SoCon Women's Soccer semifinals and championship November 6 and 8, at Stone Stadium.

Follow @FurmanWSoccer on Twitter for in-game updates on every Furman women's soccer match.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information