Greenville, S.C. – No. 16 Furman netted three second-half goals to rally for a 3-2 victory over Presbyterian in non-conference men's soccer action Tuesday night on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
With the victory, Furman upped its record to 7-1-4. Presbyterian dropped to 4-5-3 on the season.
"It's great to be back at home and great to get a win tonight," said Paladin head coach
Doug Allison. "The guys responded well in the second half to the early goal and scored three nice goals of their own."
The Blue Hose held Furman without a shot on goal in the opening half and grabbed a 1-0 lead just 41 seconds before intermission on Jonas Sundli-Hardig's header off the bottom of the cross bar on a corner kick from Steven Cordova.
Furman responded to the halftime team talk and outshot PC 10-6 over the final 45 minutes. Sophomore
Luke Hutzell leveled the match at the 73:13 mark when the Paladins earned a free kick near the top of the box and the midfielder fired a shot to the left side of the net to beat PC goalkeeper Tim Baerwalde. Less than four minutes later, Southern Conference Player of the Week
Braden Dunham collected the ball outside the box and lined a shot towards goal that took a deflection before finding the left side of the net to give the Paladins a 2-1 lead at 77:07.
Junior
Diego Hernandez continued the second-half onslaught in the 82
nd minute.
Wilfer Bustamante's pass setup the Mesquite, Texas, native behind the Blue Hose defense and the midfielder's right-footed shot found the back of the net to double the Furman lead. Presbyterian threatened to make a comeback in the 84
th minute. Sundli-Hardig's free kick was saved by
Ivan Horvat, but forward Iragi Kalala tucked away the rebound to trim the Paladin lead to 3-2.
Horvat, who finished with four saves, and the Paladin defense held off the Blue Hose over the final six minutes to secure the victory. Baerwalde took the loss for PC after recording one save on the night.
The Paladins finished the match with a 14-11 edge in total shots while Presbyterian held a 6-4 advantage in shots on target.
Furman returns to SoCon play Saturday evening when it hosts ETSU for Senior Night at Stone Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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