Greenville, S.C. – Senior Rocky Guerra lined a shot into the left side of the net in the 86th minute to break a scoreless tie and propel Furman to first place in the Southern Conference standings with a 1-0 victory over UNC Greensboro Tuesday evening on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The win, Furman's fourth in a row, improved the Paladins to 9-5-1 overall and a league-best 3-0-0 in SoCon play. With their first league defeat, the Spartans dropped to 5-8-1 overall and 3-1-0 in the conference.
"Every game in the SoCon is tough so it's great to get a win and great to get the shutout," said Furman head coach Doug Allison. "Max Fisher played well in goal tonight and Rocky had an outstanding strike. Big thanks to "The Den", who provided a great atmosphere here tonight."
The Paladins broke the tie at the 85:08 mark on Guerra's second goal of the season and second straight match-winning score. UNCG attempted to clear the ball out of the middle of the box, but the pass was intercepted by Conor Sloan. He played a pass to Guerra at the top of the box and the Lawrenceville, Ga., product rocketed a right-footed strike from 19 yards out inside the left post.
Furman looked like it would carry a lead into halftime when the Paladins appeared to score with less than 10 minutes to play in the opening half, but the goal was waved off due to a foul and UNCG's Brendan Pulley made a sprawling save on Alfredo Diaz-Santillan's goal-bound header a few minutes later to send the game to intermission at 0-0.
Pulley denied Guerra on a bending shot in the 58th minute and saved Jack Shiels header in the 67th minute to keep the game scoreless. The Spartans threatened to take the lead with less than 13 minutes to play in regulation, but Fisher made a sliding save on Albert Pedra's shot and deflected Payne McKiver's follow-up effort to preserve the clean sheet.
Fisher finished with two saves to record his third consecutive shutout, while Pulley stopped six shots in a losing effort for the Spartans.
Furman posted a 12-6 advantage in total shots and managed a 7-2 margin in shots on goal.
The Paladins return to action Friday night when they travel to Macon, Ga., to face preseason SoCon favorite Mercer. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
