Greenville, S.C. – Freshman Ryan Reid tucked away a rebound in the 107^th minute to lift No. 1 seed Furman to a 1-0 victory over No. 3 seed UNC Greensboro as the Paladins secured their second straight Southern Conference Men's Soccer Championship crown Sunday afternoon on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
 
With less than four minutes left in the second 10-minute overtime period, Connor Stout played a long ball into the center of the box that Wilfer Bustamante headed towards the left side of goal. UNCG goalkeeper Seth Wilson made a diving stop, but Reid swept the rebound into the open side of the net with a left-footed shot at the 106:16 mark to secure the Paladins' 16^th SoCon Tournament title.
 
The victory clinched Furman (14-1-4) its 13^th NCAA Tournament bid while extending the Paladins' winning streak to eight matches and their unbeaten run to 11 games. UNCG fell to 12-4-4 on the year. Furman, ranked fifth in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 and No. 12 in the United Soccer Coaches poll, will learn its postseason destination Monday at 1 p.m. when the NCAA Selection Show is streamed live on NCAA.com.
 
"It feels really good to win on our own field in front of all these fans, and the student section was unbelievable," said Paladin head coach Doug Allison, who led Furman to the SoCon Tournament title for the 11^th time in his 31-year career. "I'm so happy for our kids to win this game on their home field. The resilience that they had was just incredible. We got that chance there at the end, and I was hoping we could take it, but we had been practicing penalty kicks, too.  It's one of those situations where the kids are so resilient right now.  Ivan had to make an unbelievable save to keep us in the game, and once he did that, then there was the buildup for the second half. The atmosphere from the students was amazing.  Having that many students in this venue means a lot to me, and we were supported by an amazing number of student-athletes from other teams."
 
The match between SoCon heavyweights featured few clear-cut chances. Furman's Grayson Travis missed just wide in the opening moments of the match and Luke Munson struck a long range shot that forced a save by Wilson in the first half while Issah Haruna's shot, the only shot on goal by the Spartans in regulation, was turned away by Furman redshirt-freshman Ivan Horvat in the 29^th minute. Neither team registered a shot on goal during the second half or in the first overtime period with a crossbar -rattling strike by UNCG's Arnaud Tattevin being the most dangerous chance in the second 45-minute period. 
 
Trym Linberg forced Horvat into a save in the 102^nd minute before Reid pounced on the rebounds off Wilfer Bustamante's saved shot to seal the verdict.
 
Furman finished the match with a 9-7 edge in total shots and a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal. Horvat and Wilson each posted a pair of saves. Horvat, the SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year, notched his sixth clean sheet of the season.
 
Midfielder Diego Hernandez was named the tournament's most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Horvat, Braden Dunham, and Ryan Wagner. Furman's Jack Travis received the Pinnacle Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA on the championship-winning team.
 
SoCon Men's Soccer Championship
First Round
Greenville, S.C.
Nov. 7 – No. 5 Wofford 2, No. 4 ETSU 1, OT2
Macon, Ga.
Nov. 7 – No. 3 UNC Greensboro 5, No.6 VMI 1
 
Semifinals
Greenville, S.C.
Nov. 9 – No. 1 Furman 4, No. 5 Wofford 2
Macon, Ga.
Nov. 9 – No. 3 UNCG 2, No. 2 Mercer 0
 
Finals
Nov. 16 – No. 1 Furman 1, No. 3 UNCG 0, OT2


 
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