Greenville, S.C. -- Senior Lewis Hawke drove Marco Carrizales' corner kick into the back of the net in the 35th minute to lift the Furman men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over nationally-ranked Kentucky on Saturday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium.

The victory pushed the Paladins to 3-1-1 on the season, while Kentucky, ranked No. 10 by Top Drawer Soccer, No. 15 by Soccer America and No. 16 in the NSCAA Top 25, slipped to 3-1-1.

The Wildcats created the majority of the early chances, but Furman sophomore Jonathan Smith tallied four saves, including a pair of point-blank stops, in the opening 30:08 to keep the match level.

Furman broke through on its second corner kick of the night. Carrizales played the set piece towards the near post and Hawke flicked a powerful header through the outstretched arms of UK goalkeeper Stuart Ford in the center of the goal to put the Paladins in front at the 34:37 mark.

"We picked up two shutouts this week and got a win tonight against a really good team," said Furman head coach Doug Allison, who led his squad to a 1-0 win over Presbyterian on Wednesday. "We worked on some of that stuff yesterday and Lewis hammered his shot. Hopefully that gives him some confidence going forward."

The Paladins looked like they had taken a 2-0 lead in the second half when Hawke again buried a shot past Ford, but the Furman striker was whistled offside. Kentucky suffered the same fate minutes later when they had a goalbound shot erased by the offside flag.

Furman's defense held strong against consistent pressure from the Kentucky attack over the final 30 minutes to extend its shutout streak to over 200 minutes.

Smith, a native of Columbia, S.C., finished with five saves to notch his second straight clean sheet and third shutout of the season. Ford turned away three shots for the Wildcats.

Kentucky finished with a 17-7 edge in shot attempts, but managed just a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal.

The Paladins travel to Boiling Springs, N.C., to face the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before returning home to host South Carolina on September 20, for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Night. Fans can follow live statistics for the match by logging onto FurmanPaladins.com.  In-game updates will be available via Twitter by following @FurmanSoccer.



Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information