Greensboro, N.C. – UNC Greensboro's Ava Kiss netted a goal in the opening 20 minutes and the Spartans held on late to down Furman, 1-0, in Southern Conference women's soccer action Thursday night at UNCG Soccer Stadium.
 
The loss snapped Furman's 10 match unbeaten run as the Paladins fell to 8-2-2 overall and 2-1-1 in SoCon play. UNCG improved to 3-8-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the league.
 
Kiss provided the lone goal of the match at the 17:13 when she received a Bryanna Parkes pass, dribbled into the right side of the box and unleashed a rising shot that glanced of the fingers of Paladin goalkeeper Reese DeJong and into the top shelf.
 
"Every match I Southern Conference play is a battle and there is a fine line between winning and losing, especially when you're on the road," said Paladin head coach Andrew Burr. "We'll turn our attention towards a very challenging home match on Sunday against Samford."
 
Furman created several chances to produce the equalizer with the best opportunities coming late in the second half. Norah Roller cut inside of her defender on the left side of the box only to fire wide of the post in the 78^th minute. Emma Sexton nearly leveled the match minutes later when she pressured the UNCG goalkeeper inside the six-yard box and deflected a clearance that caromed wide of the right post. 
 
The Paladins continued to apply pressure as Sexton sent a cross over the head of Emma Malone in goal that bounced off the cross bar before being cleared by the Spartan defense. The graduate student had one more opportunity with under 10 minutes left when a cross fell to her feet inside the penalty spot, but Sexton's shot to the lower left-hand corner missed wide.
 
Malone finished with four saves to record the shutout for UNCG. DeJong stopped four shots for the Paladins, who suffered their first loss since falling 1-0 to South Florida in the season opener on August 14.
 
UNCG held a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal while the Paladins managed a 15-12 edge in total shot attempts.
 
Furman returns home on Sunday to host Samford at 2 p.m. on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium. 
 
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