Greenville, S.C. – The Furman men's soccer team returns home on Tuesday night to host the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs in the annual Gray Griffin Memorial Match on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday and the match will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live statistics provided through StatBroadcast. Links for the live stream and live stats can be found at FurmanPaladins.com. Admission to Tuesday's match and all of Furman's regular season homes games is free.
Tuesday's match is named in honor of former Paladin defender and United States Under-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 matches 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.
"It's special for our program to be able to honor the memory of Gray Griffin," said Paladin head coach
Doug Allison, prior to last year's match. "This game allows us to continue to share what an outstanding friend, teammate, and son he was and what he meant to so many people."
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, captured a Southern Conference title, and secured a No. 8 national ranking.
Furman enters the contest at 3-2-2 on the season after scoring a 4-2 upset of No. 23 College of Charleston last Tuesday in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. The Paladins scored four times in the final 18 minutes to erase a 1-0 deficit and top the Cougars for the second straight year. Senior
Christian Kraus tallied a goal and two assists while
Wilfer Bustamante netted two goals and
Caleb Johnson added two assists.
Entering Tuesday's match, Furman holds a 10-2-1 lead in the all-time series versus Gardner-Webb. In the most recent meeting during the 2023 campaign,
Jake Raine scored on a volley with one second remaining to hand the Paladins a 2-1 win over the Runnin' Bulldogs at Stone Stadium.
Gardner-Webb is off to a 5-1-1 start with its lone loss coming to No. 10 Marshall. The Runnin' Bulldogs claimed a 2-1 victory over Radford in their Big South Conference opener on Saturday night.
