Cullowhee, N.C. – Freshman Norah Roller netted the match-winning goal in the 76^th minute to carry Furman to its first Southern Conference victory of the season with a 2-1 win over Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C., on Sunday afternoon.
 
With the match even at 1-1 in the 76^th minute, Katie Bengough lofted a long pass forward towards Roller. The forward flicked a pass to herself to elude one defender and fired a shot past Western Carolina goalkeeper Leanna Trudel from the left side of the box to give the Paladins the lead at the 75:25 mark.
 
The victory improved the Paladins to 5-3-2 overall and 1-0-1 in SoCon play while the Catamounts, who shocked preseason favorite Samford on Thursday night, suffered their first league loss to fall to 4-3-3 overall and 1-1-0 in the conference.
 
"Any time you can go on the road and get points in Southern Conference play this season it's going to be huge," said Paladin head coach Andrew Burr. "Western Carolina is a strong team coming off a great win over Samford. Today was a great example of how we are going to have to score goals by committee this season. We need to have our entire team contributing and we say that today with Cambelle and Norah getting big goals for us."
 
After the Catamounts banged a pair of shots off the woodwork in the first half hour, Furman opened the scoring at the 38:25 mark on sophomore Cambelle Roberson's first career goal. Ava King served a corner kick to the far side of the box that was headed into the six-yard box by Madison Luckett and Roberson poked a shot past Trudel in a scramble in front of the goal to put the Paladins in front, 1-0.
 
Western Carolina leveled the match in the 62^nd minute. Naya Marcil served a pass over the top of the defense from near midfielder and Isabella DeMarco cut inside of a defender before firing her shot over the shoulder of goalkeeper Addison Corn at the 61:24 mark. 
 
With the momentum on its side, Western Carolina threatened to take the lead in the 68^th minute but Camryn Bolick cleared a shot off the line with a header to keep the score knotted at 1-1. The Paladin defense did not allow a shot on goal the rest of the way and limited the Catamounts to only one shot in the final 22 minutes.
 
Corn recorded four saves to notch her 23^rd career victory for the Paladins. Trudel posted one save for Western Carolina.
 
The Catamounts finished with a 16-8 advantage in total shots and 6-3 edge in chances on target. Furman earned five corner kicks while limiting the Western Carolina to just two.
 
The Paladins are back in action at Stone Soccer Stadium on Thursday night when they host The Citadel Bulldogs. Admission is free and the match will be streamed live on ESPN+.