Furman Updated Stats Live Stats SoCon Tournament Results & Happenings
Box Score
Daniel Island, SC-- Kenny Bundy provided all the offense UNCG would need with both goals in the Spartans, 2-1, victory over College of Charleston in the quarterfinals of the 2002 Southern Conference Men's Soccer Tournament at Bishop England Field. With the win, the Spartans face top-seeded Furman Saturday at 2 pm in the semifinals.
"This was a tough match," said head coach Michael Parker. "The field conditions were a definite challenge and really made a direct attack imperative. That style fits College of Charleston better, but our back four was tremendous tonight."
Bundy notched his first goal of the match just 15:30 into the match. Cliff Patterson played a beautiful long arching ball behind the College of Charleston defense. Bundy ran onto the Patterson pass and thundered it past Cougars netminder Keith Wiggans.
Bundy added his second of the match, fifth of the season, at 64:40. Svafnir Gislason got on the end of a ball played into the box, heading it back across the goal mouth. Bundy took control of the loose ball and rifled it just under to cross bar.
"Kenny played great," said Parker. "I am so happy for him. He scored two great goals."
Despite a two-goal deficit, the Cougars continued to push forward. College of Charleston was finally awarded at the 78:08 mark. Jeff Files narrowed the gap in half. Daniel Azcarate was creditied with the assist.
Chris Goos, the 2002 SoCon Player of the Year, nearly pushed the advantage back to two goals with a pair of tremendous scoring chances. Goos' header off a Gislason cross sailed just over the post. Then, just three minutes later, Goos rifled a shot from the top of the box that went just wide.
Jay Benefield made the Bundy goals stand with his xth shutout of the season. Benefield played
solid between the pipes, despite some terrible conditions. In fact, the freshman made a couple of
critical saves.
"With the conditions, Jay needed to handle the ball well and he did," said Parker. "He controlled
the box and really hung onto everything."
The victory is the Spartans' seventh straight win and ups UNCG's record to 14-7-0, while College
of Charleston falls to 11-7-2.
The Spartans now focus their attention on the Paladins. Furman slipped past UNCG, 4-3, in overtime earlier this season. The Paladins will look to extend its conference unbeaten streak to 41 games. Despite Furman's dominance in the SoCon, UNCG has had second-half leads in each of the past two meetings, including last season's SoCon Tournament Championship.
"We are a really confident team right now," said Parker. "We were able to knock off CofC tonight, a team that got the better of us earlier this season. Furman did the same. Hopefully, we can return the favor."
