Greenville, S.C. – The Furman men's soccer team concludes its four-game homestand on Wednesday evening when it hosts the Davidson Wildcats in the annual Gray Griffin Memorial Game at 7 p.m. from Stone Stadium.
Fans can follow the action on www.furmanpaladins.com via live stats. The game is being streamed via paid subscription on ESPN+. Updates will also be posted on the Furman men's soccer Twitter page (@FurmanSoccer).
Tickets for Wednesday's contest are $5 and can be purchased at www.furmanpaladins.com or at the Stone Stadium entrance one hour prior to kickoff. Tickets for Furman students are free with their student ID.
The game is named in honor of former Paladin defender, and United States U-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 United Soccer Coaches and Parade All-America selection played in and started the first 12 games of the 2002 campaign for Furman, tallying a goal in the Paladins' overtime victory versus UNC Greensboro 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's round of 16. Furman finished the season at 19-3-1 and captured a Southern Conference title and No. 8 national ranking.
The Paladins (1-3) are coming off a 3-2 loss in double overtime last Saturday to USC Upstate.
Dylan Lane scored his second goal of the season against the Spartans while
Jacob Garzon added his first.
Callum Holland and
Miles Fenton contributed their first and second assists of the year, respectively. In goal,
Ben Roberts finished with four saves.
Lane has a team-leading four points for Furman this season on two goals, while
Jake Raine provides three on one goal and one assist. Fenton leads the team with two assists. Roberts has registered 16 saves and a 1.87 GAA.
Davidson is currently 3-1 on the season following a 2-1 victory at Mercer on Sunday. Vincent Bennage and Lucas Hauth lead the Wildcats on offense with six points apiece on three goals. Nicholas Cavallo and Henry Howell both have two assists for the year. In goal, Giacomo Piccardo has nine saves and a 1.50 GAA. Davidson is under the direction of third-year head coach Mike Babst.
The Paladins and Wildcats are meeting for the 57
th time in program history with Furman leading the all-time series 32-22-2. The Paladins defeated Davidson in the last meeting, 3-2, on September 14, 2019 at Stone Stadium.
Furman opens SoCon play on Saturday evening traveling to Mercer for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
