Greenville, S.C. – Sophomore
Maddie Massie scored off a set piece in the 29
th minute and Furman's defense notched its third shutout of the season as the Paladins downed Southern Conference foe UNC Greensboro, 1-0, on Thursday night in the annual Pink Game for cancer awareness at Stone Soccer Stadium.
The victory extended the Paladins' unbeaten run to eight matches and improved Furman to 6-4-3 overall and 2-0-2 in league play. The Spartans dropped to 4-6-3 overall and 3-1-1 in the SoCon.
"This team played outstanding defense tonight against a very good opponent," said Paladin head coach
Andrew Burr. "As we always talk about, we were low risk at the back, physical when we needed to be physical, and found a way to score on another set piece."
Furman grabbed the lead at the 28:31 mark on Massie's second goal of the season. The Paladins earned a corner kick and
Ava King served a ball towards the back post that Massie nodded past UNCG goalkeeper Emma Malone to break the deadlock.
UNCG controlled much of the possession on the night, but Furman's back line of King,
Miya Poplin,
Katie Bengough, and
Ellie Herrmann forced the Spartans to take most of their chances from long range. Freshman goalkeeper
Reese DeJong, making her first SoCon start, stopped four shots to earn her second clean sheet of the season.
Despite the Spartans posting a 14-9 margin in total shots, Furman held a 5-4 edge in shots on target and earned eight corner kicks to just six for UNCG. Malone recorded four saves in the loss for the Spartans.
The Paladin victory evened the all-time series between the SoCon rivals at 19-19-4.
Furman continues SoCon play on Sunday afternoon when it travels to Johnson City, Tenn., to face ETSU. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
