Greenville, S.C. -- Forward Lewis Hawke netted a pair of goals and fellow senior Evan De Ycaza added a third as Furman edged VMI, 3-2, in Southern Conference men's soccer action on Senior Night Saturday evening on Seagraves Field.

The Paladins (6-5-2, 2-3-1 SoCon), who halted a three-game skid, struck first at the 9:01 mark when Zach Jackson rocketed a shot from the right wing that bounced off the left post to De Ycaza who booted his chance past VMI goalkeeper Robert Allen for his third goal of the season. VMI (0-12-0, 0-6-0) pulled even in the 27th minute on Tyler Colgan's second strike of the year. Jackson Rowady curled a cross from deep on the right wing to the top of the six-yard box and Colgan flicked a header into the near side netting at 26:52 for the equalizer.

Furman opened the scoring in the second half in the 57th minute. Freshman Emery May took a pass on the right side of the box with his back to goal and was dragged down by a Keydet defender. Hawke stepped to the penalty spot and converted to give the Paladins a 2-1 advantage.

Once again, VMI managed to even the match. With less than 10 minutes left in regulation, Colgan played a give-and-go to free Grant Austin on the left side of the box and the VMI attacker fired a shot past a charging Max Fisher to tie the match at 2-2 at the 80:38 mark.

Before VMI had time to celebrate the equalizer, Hawke put Furman back in front with his second goal of the night and seventh of the season. Bobby Edet ripped a shot on target from the middle of the box and Allen spilled the save into the path of Hawke who chipped in his shot over the sprawling keeper from close range at the 81:02 mark to hand the Paladins the 3-2 win.

Fisher made one save and his back line cleared a second VMI shot off the goal line to help him earn the victory in his first collegiate start in goal. Allen stopped seven shots in a losing effort for the Keydets.

Furman finished with a 22-6 edge in total shots and 10-4 lead in shots on goal. The Paladins earned six corner kicks without surrendering a corner to VMI in 90 minutes of play.

UNCG visits Stone Stadium on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. as Furman continues its homestand. Tickets for the match are available online at FurmanPaladins.com or can be purchased beginning one hour prior to kickoff at the Stone Stadium entrance.

Tuesday's match will be streamed live on the SoCon Digital Network with live statistics available through StatBroadcast. Links for both the video stream and live stats will be posted at FurmanPaladins.com.

Fans can access in-game updates of Furman men's soccer on Twitter by following @FurmanSoccer.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information