Greenville, S.C. – Defender
Ellie Herrmann drilled a free kick from 28 yards out in the 84
th minute to lift Furman women's soccer to a 2-1 victory over Western Carolina and a share of the Southern Conference regular season championship Sunday afternoon on Seagraves Field at Stone Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 at the half, Furman netted a pair of second half goals to rally past the Catamounts to claim its 10
th SoCon regular season crown. The Paladins, unbeaten in their last 10 matches, concluded the regular season at 13-3-3 overall and 8-0-2 in league play. Furman, co-champions with Samford, will be the No. 2 seed in the SoCon Women's Soccer Championship and will host a quarterfinal round match at Stone Stadium on Sunday, November 8, at 2 p.m.
"I could not be prouder of this team," said
Andrew Burr, who secured his fourth SoCon regular season title as the Paladins' head coach. "They have shown tremendous grit and resilience all season. Today we fell behind, but they never quit and a graduate senior,
Ellie Herrmann, comes through with the biggest goal of the year while
Reese DeJong and our defense held strong."
Western Carolina grabbed a 1-0 advantage just 8:12 into the match when Alexandra Grammenolis headed in Erika Gariepy's corner kick. The Paladins, who dominated the scoring chances for most of the afternoon leveled the match at 58:35 when
Marlie Nagle's shot was deflected off the cross bar and
Maddie Massie cleaned up the loose ball at the left post for her fourth goal of the season.
After the Paladins were denied a potential go-ahead penalty on VAR review with about 15 minutes remaining, they found the winning goal on a set piece at 83:26.
Alyssa England drew a foul outside the box and Herrmann drilled her free kick into the upper right-hand corner for her second free kick goal of the week.
DeJong finished with two saves to earn the victory in goal while Amara Yatka turned away six shots for the Catamounts (4-11-3, 2-6-2 SoCon). Furman managed a 23-7 advantage in total shot attempts, including an 8-3 edge in shots on goal.
In 10 regular season SoCon matches, the Paladins outscored their opponents by a combined 27-6.
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