SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford Terriers men's soccer team finished the regular season with a perfect home record, battling for a hard-fought, 1-0, victory over the Furman Paladins, Saturday night at Snyder Field.
With the Terriers win over Furman, Wofford is locked into the No. 2 seed heading into the Southern Conference tournament, after Mercer's win over ETSU crowned the Bears regular season champions. The Wofford men's team earned a 12-day break with the win, with a first round bye before playing on November 13th in the SoCon semifinal game.
Wofford's win marks a perfect season at home, with a 7-0-0 home record for the first time in program history. Wofford has had three seasons resulting in one loss at home before this year, most recently during last year's campaign. In the last 15 home matches, the Terriers have gone 14-1.
Senior midfielder Nick Orton scored his only goal of the regular season when it mattered the most. The Terriers break began with a long pass from junior Connor Bauknight finding classmate Connor Copeland on the left side of the 18-yard box. Copeland settled the ball before passing it into Orton in the center. Orton shielded off a defender, spun and struck the ball with his right foot, placing it in the top right corner past Furman's Sven Lissek, who was frozen in the middle of the goal.
The victory over Furman continues a dominant stretch for Wofford in the series, with the Terriers now winning five straight matches against the Paladins.
The Terriers were outshot by the Paladins in the match, 13-10, with Furman striking five shots on goal, while Wofford placed four on frame. The match was extremely physical, with 36 fouls between both sides. Five yellow cards were administered in the match. Furman's Eric Steber was given a yellow, along with Wofford's Charlie Keeley, Pierce Verchick, Kevin Hady and Carlos Dominguez-Gonzalez.
The game started with both sides feeling one another out while trying to pull ahead. Furman nearly earned a goal early on, with their best look for the match in the 14th minute. Impressive goalkeeping from sophomore Joe Wichmann kept the game level. Furman's Lewis Hawke fired off a rebounded shot with his left foot, launching the ball towards the top right corner, where Wichmann leapt up, deflecting the ball out for one of his five saves of the night. Wichmann is now 4-0-0 this season with three shutouts under his belt.
The Terriers will play next in Greensboro, where they take on the winner of No. 3 seed Furman vs. No. 6 seed VMI. The match will be played at 7:30 p.m. on November 13th in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
