The reigning regular season Southern Conference (SoCon) champs have gotten off to a slow start this season. After a 0-2 loss to Wake Forest on Aug. 15 and a tie with North Florida on Aug. 20, the Paladins looked to bounce back in their match against George Mason University on Aug. 29. The Paladins, after traveling to Northern Virginia, ended up losing in their first overtime contest of the season. George Mason’s Jacob Rylander scored the game-winning goal in the 94th minute (assisted by Miles Montgomery).

The first half of this contest only saw a combined 4 shots by both teams. Two saves by Furman keeper Ben Roberts kept the score 0-0 at the half. The teams both improved their offense in the second half, and there were 7 shots attempted in the last 15 minutes of play. Both teams had opportunities to score late; Furman’s Callum Holland had a great attempt at scoring a goal just before the end of the second half in the 88th minute, but George Mason blocked this shot. After an evenly matched contest, George Mason and Furman was tied at 0-0 at the end of regulation time.

The overtime period ended quickly, with George Mason’s shooting the game-winning goal within four minutes. Furman only had possession twice in overtime.

Despite a somewhat disappointing start to the season, things still look good for Furman this season. Furman still has returning talent from last year’s SoCon regular season championship team, and, with fifteen more games to be played this season, and conference play over two weeks away, there is plenty of time for the Paladins to improve. The team will have another chance to get their first win of the season when they play their home opener this Friday, Sept. 3, against the 0-2 Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs.