Box Score GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's soccer team suffered its first Southern Conference game of the season Friday night as the Spartans dropped a 2-0 decision to league rival Furman at Stone Stadium in the driving rain. The Spartans will look to get back on the winning track Tuesday night when they host East Tennessee State at the UNCG Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m.
The Spartans had their best chance of the first half in the 22nd minute of play. Senior forward Jacques Francois (Port Au Prince, Haiti/Louisburg College) forced a Furman turnover with high pressure and got in alone against Furman goalkeeper Sven Lissek. Francois touched the ball around Lissek but as he was going to tap it into the goal, Lissek fouled him and was issued a yellow card. Freshman midfielder Leeroy Maguraushe (Milton Keynes, England/Stantonbury) stepped up to the spot but his shot from the penalty mark was saved by Lissek to keep the game scoreless.
The intensity picked up from that point forward as both teams pushed the attack. Furman had a goal waved off in the 41st minute on an offside call and just 36 seconds later, Paladin midfielder Evan De Ycaza was issued a red card for a slide tackle out of bounds after the whistle. The red card happened at the 41:15 mark of the first half, forcing Furman to play a player down the rest of the game.
The Spartans nearly took the lead just before first half off a corner kick. Maguraushe sent the corner kick into the back post over the Furman defender. Junior Nicholas Downs (Great Falls, Mont./Charles M. Russell) rose above the defender and drilled a header towards goal but a Furman defender was there to clear the ball off the line to send the game into halftime scoreless.
The teams came out in the second half and the weather took a turn for the worse as the rain started to fall at a faster clip. The Spartans battled for the go ahead goal throughout the second half but were unable to crack the Furman defense.
Furman took advantage of its first chance in the second half and was aided by an unlucky bounce against the Spartans to take a 1-0 lead in the 82nd minute. Josiah Baker took possession of the ball near midfield and made a long run against the Spartans' defense. He drove diagonally into the box and poked a shot form a sharp angle that somehow found its way past senior goalkeeper Logan Rohde (Cary, N.C./Greensboro College).
The Spartans were forced to push up their attack after the goal as they were trying to tie the game in the final minutes of action. Furman took advantage of that aggressiveness and scored its second goal of the game on a counter attack in the 87th minute. Kevin Pahl got free down the left-hand side and sent a cross into the box, Lewis Hawke was able to get on the end of the cross and push it into the goal past Rohde for a 2-0 lead.
The Spartans return to action Tuesday night when they host East Tennessee State. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at the UNCG Soccer Stadium.
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