Greenville, S.C. – No. 16 seed Furman prevailed in penalty kicks, 5-4, to eliminate Hofstra and advance to the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship Quarterfinals following a 3-3 draw versus the Pride Sunday afternoon on Seagraves Field at Eugene Stone III Soccer Stadium.
Furman (15-1-5) advances to face No. 8 seed Portland in the Elite Eight on Friday, December 5. Kickoff is set for 10 p.m. EST at Merlo Field in Portland, Ore.
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"I couldn't be prouder of these guys," said Paladin head coach
Doug Allison. "They didn't panic when we fell behind and they showed tremendous resilience today. All five guys stepped up and converted their penalties just like we had practiced. Also, how about these fans! Our students came back from Thanksgiving to support us en masse, and our fans and alumni were great."
Following the 3-3 tie, the teams moved to the scoreboard end of Seagraves Field for the penalty shootout. Both teams converted in the first two rounds before Stefano Campisi missed high for the Pride. The Paladins and Pride traded goals in the fourth round and Laurie Goddard finished to open the fifth round to keep Hofstra alive. Furman senior
Landon Hill stepped to the spot and drilled his attempt into the left-hand corner to trigger the victory celebration for the home side.
Furman will be making its second trip to the NCAA quarterfinals after falling at UConn in the round of eight in 1999. By advancing past Hofstra, the Paladins extended their NCAA-best unbeaten run to 13 matches.
Hofstra opened the scoring in 17
th minute when Daniel Burko redirected Thengill Orrason's long cross into the right side of the net. The Paladins answered just 36 seconds before halftime.
Diego Hernandez's cross into the box was cleared out wide to
Landon Hill who served a cross into the middle of the box.
Luke Hutzell got on the end of the cross to level the match at 1-1 on his fourth goal of the season.
Furman grabbed the lead in the 77
th minute.
Caleb Johnson controlled the ball deep on the left side and sent a cross towards the top of the six-yard box. Hill deflected the ball into the path of Hutzell who fired a shot through the middle of the box that was redirected past Hofstra goalkeeper Sean Bohan by
Wilfer Bustamante at the 76:03 mark. Less than four minutes later, Bustamante hustled to chase down a loose ball on the left wing and picked out an unmarked Hernandez streaking into the right side of the box to double the Paladin advantage at 79:52.
Hofstra (14-5-1) refused to go quietly as the Pride answered on the first of two goals from Goddard at the 80:11 mark. At the 81:19 mark, Aleksei Armas picked out Goddard with a cross and the senior forward tucked his shot into the left-hand corner to level the match at 3-3 and force overtime. Neither team registered a shot on goal in the two 10-minute overtime periods with Furman outshooting Hofstra 3-1 in both extra periods.
Furman managed a 27-12 advantage in total shots for the match and finished with a 9-3 edge in shots on target. Horvat earned the victory for the Paladins while Bohan stopped three shots in the loss for Hofstra.
Penalty Shootout
Hofstra
#34 Goal/#33 Goal/#8 Miss/#21 Goal/#27 Goal
Furman
#25 Goal/#10 Goal/#24 Goal/#17 Goal/#19 Goal
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