Greenville, S.C. -- Avery Ryan and Eli Dent netted goals to lead College of Charleston to a 2-0 victory over Furman men's soccer in the Gray Griffin Memorial Game Saturday evening on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium in front of a crowd of 2,141.

After Furman (1-1-1) avoided disaster in the opening 30 seconds when CofC's Nico Rittmeyer headed over the bar from inside six yards, the Paladins created several chances as Aigbekan Nosegbe forced a save in the 11th minute and Marco Ortiz fired high off of a corner kick less than four minutes later. Charleston, however, broke the deadlock at 20:55 when Leland Archer played a long ball over the top to Ryan, who lined a shot past Furman goalkeeper Jonathan Smith and into the left corner.

Less than a minute later a Furman defender saved a potential Cougar goal off the line, and the Paladins recorded a second team save in the 36th minute when Ryan's goalbound header was deflected clear of danger by a defender.

Charleston (2-1-0) forced Smith into a pair of saves in the opening seven minutes of the second half before Furman created its best chance of the match only to see Josiah Baker's goal waved off and called offside. The Cougars continued to limit Furman's chances and added an insurance goal at the 82:58 mark. Archer took a free kick near midfield that was redirected by Ryan and Dent headed past Smith from inside six yards to double the lead.

The Cougars finished with a 15-7 lead in shot attempts that included an 11-2 edge in shots on goal. Kevin Shields recorded two saves to notch the shutout for CofC, while Smith stopped seven shots for the Paladins.

Saturday's game was named in honor of former Paladin defender and United States Under-17 National Team captain, Gray Griffin, who was killed in a traffic accident in October of 2002 during his freshman year at Furman.  The 2001 and 2002 NSCAA and Parade All-America selection played in and started the first 12 matches of the 2002 campaign for Furman, tallying a goal in the Paladins' overtime victory versus UNCG and earning all-tournament honors at Notre Dame's tournament in September.  

The 2002 Paladins, led by standouts Clint Dempsey and Ricardo Clark, rallied together following Griffin's death to set an NCAA record with 11 consecutive shutouts and advance to the NCAA Tournament round of 16.  Furman finished the season at 19-3-1 and captured a Southern Conference title and No. 8 national ranking.

Furman continues its homestand on Wednesday when it hosts Presbyterian at 7 p.m. Tickets for Wednesday's game are available through FurmanPaladins.com or can be purchased at the Stone Soccer Stadium gate beginning one hour prior to kickoff.

Fans can follow live statistics for each match and live streaming video of Furman's home matches by logging onto FurmanPaladins.com.  In-game updates will be available via Twitter by following @FurmanSoccer.



Jordan Caskey, Furman Sports Information