Paladins Fall Short Of SoCon Tournament Bid
Greenville, S.C. -- Matt Morris scored his second goal of the night just 32 seconds into overtime to lift the College of Charleston to a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Furman in the regular season finale for both teams on Monday evening at Patriots Point.
Charleston, who improved to 11-9-0 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference, will enter the SoCon Tournament as the second seed and will face third-seeded Elon on Friday at 5 p.m. in Spartanburg, S.C. With the loss, Furman sees its bid to gain a spot in the league tournament fall short. The Paladins concluded their season at 8-8-2 overall and 3-4 in SoCon play.
In the opening seconds of overtime, Jake Helmig delivered a throw in into the box and Morris headed in his seventh goal of the season to give the Cougars the win. Charleston had forced overtime at the 88:42 mark as Sean Flatley booted in a Shawn Ferguson pass to knot the match at 2-2.
CofC took the early lead in the 11th minute as Morris headed a Zach Prince free kick past Paladin goalkeeper Alec Kann. Furman equalized in the 42nd minute when defender Talon Stroud converted from the penalty spot for his first goal of the season.
The Paladins looked set to take the victory and earn a berth to the SoCon Tournament when senior Nasarachi Onyeuku netted his fourth goal of the campaign from eight yards out in the 69th minute, but Flatley’s goal gave the Cougars new life.
Charleston held a 13-6 edge in shots and 5-4 advantage in shots on goal. Morris’ pair of goals marked the fourth and fifth goals allowed by the Paladins on headers off of set pieces in the last two matches.
Clark Hankins made two saves to earn the win in goal for the Cougars while Kann stopped two shots in the loss for the Paladins.
