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Furman Soccer Drops Heartbreaker To Second-Ranked UNC Greensboro 2-1
Oct. 2, 2004
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Phil Long's goal in the 83rd minute broke a 1-1 tie and gave the second-ranked UNC Greensboro Spartans a 2-1 victory over Furman in men's soccer action in front of 1,345 Saturday night at Stone Soccer Stadium.
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, Furman struck first at the 46:18 mark. Josh Villalobos crossed the ball through the box from the left side to Eliot Paschalis who headed a pass to freshman Richard Jata inside the six yard box. Jata turned and fired a shot past UNCG keeper Jay Benfield into the lefthand corner to give Furman a 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, the Spartans' Randi Patterson collected a rebound off of Long's free kick off the left post and beat a sprawling Alex Maslow to even the match at 1-1.
In the final 15 minutes, Maslow turned the Spartans away with a trio of diving saves, including a stop off of Scott Jones' header with 11:25 remaining.
UNC Greensboro broke through for the winning score at the 82:51 mark. Long took the ball in his own end and dribbled over 60 yards before rocketing a dipping shot past Maslow and into the uper righthand corner for his third goal of the season.
Benfield recorded the win in goal for UNCG while making three saves. Furman's Maslow stopped six Spartan shots in a losing effort.
The loss drops Furman to 3-4-1 overall and 0-1-0 in Southern Conference play, while UNC Greensboro ups its record to 8-0-1 overall and 2-0-1 in league play.
Furman returns to action Wednesday night when it travels to face the Elon Phoenix before returning home to host the College of Charleston on October 9.
