Greenville S.C. - Presbyterian College men's soccer
dropped an exciting game on Tuesday night, 1-0.
There was nothing between the two teams for the first 75 minutes as
neither team could find the goal. The
late Paladin winner handed PC its third consecutive loss on opening night since
starting the transition to Division I and dropped the Blue Hose to 0-1 on the
season.
"We had a gameplan tonight and we went out there and
executed it well," said head coach Bret Boulware. "Furman is a very good team with very good
players and our guys went out there and showed them what they are made of. We're never happy with a loss, but our team
comes away with a lot of positives after tonight's game."
After Furman ruled possession through the first 20 minutes,
the Paladins looked to score the game's first goal on 23 minutes. However, the second-chance goal was disallowed
as the assistant referee flagged the play dead on offsides.
In the final seconds before the halftime break, freshman
Jonny Mercado produced the Blue Hose's best goal opportunity of the opening 45
minutes by beating the Paladin goalkeeper from 25 yards but pushing the shot
just wide of the post.
Just before the hour mark another Blue Hose scoring
opportunity sailed just wide. Off the
free kick of senior Zach Sinkuler, junior Davis Orders' diving header from six
yards went just wide of the bar.
Furman took the lead in the 76th minute. Fabien Vorbe's shot was saved by PC
goalkeeper James Neal. The rebound came
to Jordan Howard who buried the ball into the net from 12 yards out to give
the Paladins a 1-0 lead.
The Blue Hose attacked furiously over the final ten minutes
of the game but came up just short in the end.
Overall, Neal made five saves in goal as he fell to 0-1
between the pipes for the Blue Hose.
Freshman Byron Quinatoa registered two of PC's five shots in the
game. The Blue Hose offense was flagged
for offsides five times.
The Blue Hose return
home for a home fixture against Georgia State on Saturday evening at 5 p.m.
from PC's Martin Stadium.
