Lexington, Va. -- Senior Lewis Hawke tallied a pair of goals to help propel Furman to a 6-0 victory at VMI in the Southern Conference men's soccer opener for both schools on Saturday afternoon at Patchin Field in Lexington, Va.

The shutout improved the Paladins to 5-2-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference, while VMI fell to 0-6-0 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Furman's six-goal outburst marked the most goals for a Paladin team since they tallied eight in an 8-0 victory over Presbyterian in September of 2013. It marked the second time in the last three matches that Furman bagged four second half goals with the Paladins having rallied from a 2-0 deficit with four scores after intermission at Gardner-Webb early this month.

The Paladins took the first half lead on their first shot of the afternoon in the 37th minute. Aigbekan Nosegbe slid onto a pass across the six-yard box to finish his first career goal with assists from Connor Hubbard and Josiah Baker at the 36:05 mark.

With less than a minute remaining in the half, Furman was awarded a penalty kick and Baker stepped to the spot to deposit the free kick past VMI goalkeeper Mason Worsham at the 44:09 mark to send Furman to intermission  with a 2-0 lead.

Less than nine minutes into the second half, Rocky Guerra slid a pass between two defenders to Hawke and the Scottish striker rounded the keeper before tapping in the Paladins' third goal of the afternoon. Evan De Ycaza tallied his second goal of the season on an assist from Dylan Rowe in the 68th minute before Hawke netted his second of the afternoon on an assist from Emery May to up the advantage to 5-0 in the 88th minute. May capped the scoring with six seconds remaining by scoring from 10 yards out on a pass from Drew Mostoller.

Sophomore Jonathan Smith and freshman Max Fisher each notched a save to combine on the shutout.

Furman compiled a 26-4 margin in total shot attempts and managed a 9-2 edge in shots on goal.

The Paladins return to Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium on Tuesday when they open their SoCon home schedule with a 7 p.m. kickoff against the ETSU Bucs. Tickets for the match are available online at FurmanPaladins.com and can also be purchased at the Stone Stadium gate beginning one hour prior to kickoff.

Fans can access in-game updates on Twitter by following @FurmanSoccer.


Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information