Birmingham, Ala. – Furman women's soccer opened the Southern Conference season by earning a point in a 1-1 draw at Samford Friday evening at the Samford Track & Soccer Stadium in Birmingham, Ala.
 
The Paladins and Bulldogs, picked third and second, respectively, in the preseason SoCon poll, produced offensive fireworks in the opening minutes before grinding out a draw over 110 minutes to begin league play.
 
"We had to play a very good Samford team on the road in the conference opener so we're definitely happy to come away with a point, but the focus will be to clean up a few things going forward," said Paladin head coach Andrew Burr. "Hopefully we can work on a few things that will help us turn a match like this into a win later in the season."
 
Sophomore Isabella Gutierrez, who netted both goals versus Samford in last season's SoCon Tournament semifinal, put the Paladins in front at the 6:24 mark. A cross into the box from the left wing bounced to the Statesboro, Ga., native near the top of the box and Gutierrez struck a left-footed shot through traffic and into the right-hand corner for her third goal of the season.
 
Just 54 seconds later, Samford freshman Taylor Yount evened the match with her team-leading seventh goal of the season. The forward stripped the ball from a Paladin defender near the top of the box and lined her shot into the right side of the goal at 7:18 to knot the match at 1-1.
 
Jasmine Greene and Erin Houlihan forced saves as Furman threatened to net the go-ahead goal in the opening minutes of the second half before senior Kellsey Weaver came up with a pair of saves in the final 10 minutes of regulation to force overtime. Furman dominated the first overtime period as Ellie Laxer fired a long range effort over the cross bar and Greene headed high on the only chances of the 10-minute stretch.
 
Greene forced Samford's Morgan McAslan into a save in the 107^th minute on the Paladins' most dangerous scoring opportunity in the final overtime period and Weaver made a diving stop in the final seconds to secure the point for Furman.
 
Weaver and McAslan each totaled five saves. Furman outshot the Bulldogs 15-14 with both teams registering six shots on goal.
 
Furman (5-4-1, 0-0-1 SoCon) returns to action on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. when it faces the Chattanooga Mocs on the SoCon Digital Network in Chattanooga, Tenn. Samford (3-2-5, 0-0-1 SoCon) hosts Wofford on Sunday afternoon.