Furman claims second straight SoCon Championship

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Furman’s Lewis Hawke scored on a header in the 10th minute and keeper and tournament Most Outstanding Player Sven Lissek made the goal stand as the second-seeded Paladins downed No. 4 seed ETSU at the Bucs’ Summers-Taylor Stadium in Sunday’s title match of the Southern Conference Men’s Soccer Championship. The title was Furman’s second straight and league-record 13th overall.

The Paladins (8-5-5), who earned the SoCon’s automatic NCAA bid, will learn their postseason destination when the 48-team bracket is announced live on NCAA.com at 1 p.m. Monday. First-round play begins Thursday.

Hawke scored the only goal of the match at the 9:26 mark, rising up above his defender to nod home a Noah Teplitzky cross to the lower right corner of the net. The goal was Hawke’s team-leading fourth of the year and marked the second time in as many seasons that he scored the game-winning goal on a header in the title match.

Lissek made six saves on the day, many of the sensational variety, to earn his seventh shutout of the season and 28th of his career, putting him in sole possession of second in Southern Conference history.

The shutout was Lissek’s second of this season’s tournament and fifth straight in SoCon tournament play, as he and the Paladins posted three shutouts en route to the 2014 title. The team’s five consecutive shutouts in the tournament are a league record, eclipsing the previous mark shared by Davidson (2002-03) and UNCG (2006-07), who each posted four straight.

ETSU (8-7-4), which was making its first title-game appearance in its second season in the league, had the run of play for much of the second half, forcing several outstanding plays from Lissek as the Bucs held a 14-5 advantage in shots after intermission. ETSU also earned all seven of its corner kicks in the match in the second half.

The Bucs’ James Smith unleashed a tremendous shot ticketed for the upper left corner of the goal in the 63rd minute, but Lissek dove to his right to push the ball wide and preserve the shutout.

Perhaps ETSU’s best scoring chance came in the 68th minute, when Mitchell Cecatiello got a one-on-one with Lissek inside the box but pushed his shot just inches wide.

Moments later, Joao Ramalho put a close-range attempt on frame that Lissek saved, giving the Bucs a corner kick. Chase Clack ended up with the ball at his feet at the corner of the 6-yard box and his Furman defender on the ground in front of him, but the defender was able to clear Clack’s shot from his back.

ETSU continued to apply pressure, and Fletcher Ekern got off a header that required Lissek to dive and punch the ball over the crossbar in the 73rd minute. Ramalho and Corentin Ohlmann had shots blocked in quick succession to cap a frantic 15 minutes of play in the Bucs’ offensive half.

Furman weathered the pressure, however, and nearly doubled its lead with time winding down. With 8:30 left in the match, Furman’s Evan De YCaza got in for a close-range shot that ETSU keeper Jonny Sutherland was able to save out of bounds.

Sutherland finished the match with two saves and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Smith and Ohlmann.

De Ycaza, Marco Carrizales and Wellford Moore represented Furman on the all-tournament alongside Lissek.

Mercer’s Ian Antley and Jordan Duru and UNCG’s Ricky Chavez and Noah DeAngelo rounded out the all-tournament team.

Furman’s tournament win continues an impressive fall campaign for the Paladins, who have also claimed the men’s and women’s cross country and women’s soccer championships. Furman has a chance at the clean fall sweep next weekend at the SoCon Volleyball Championship in Cullowhee, N.C.

All-Tournament Team
Ian Antley, Mercer
Jordan Duru, Mercer
Ricky Chavez, UNCG
Noah DeAngelo, UNCG
Corentin Ohlmann, ETSU
James Smith, ETSU
Jonny Sutherland, ETSU
Marco Carrizales, Furman
Evan De YCaza, Furman
Sven Lissek, Furman
Wellford Moore, Furman

Most Outstanding Player
Sven Lissek, Furman

2015 SoCon Men’s Soccer Championship
Quarterfinal Round, Saturday, Nov. 7
Campus sites (at higher seeds)
Match 1: No. 4 ETSU 5, No. 5 Wofford 0
Match 2: No. 3 Mercer 7, No. 6 VMI 0

Semifinals, Friday, Nov. 13
Johnson City, Tenn.
Match 3: No. 4 ETSU 1, No. 1 UNCG 1 (ETSU advances in PKs, 6-5)
Match 4: No. 2 Furman 0, No. 3 Mercer 0 (Furman advances in PKs, 3-2)

Championship, Sunday, Nov. 15
Johnson City, Tenn.
Match 5: No. 2 Furman 1, No. 4 ETSU 0

-www.SoConSports.com-