Many Furman soccer fans would consider last year’s Men’s soccer season a disappointment after a very talented team failed to make the NCAA tournament field. Part of the reason the team fell short was it’s relatively weak schedule and loss to Wofford in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference playoffs.

To avoid the same fate this year, the team’s coaching staff put together a nonconference schedule that includes foes such as Xavier, James Madison, Vermont, Clemson, and 2010 national champion Akron. The tougher schedule, taken with a highly-regarded crop of freshmen recruits, has many fan’s hopes high going into the first weekend of the season.

The men opened their schedule with a trip to Charleston to play in the Nike/Aaron Olitsky Memorial Tournament, hosted by College of Charleston. Game one matched the Paladins up against Xavier, ranked 22nd nationally, a member of the newly reconstructed Big East conference.

The game was full of back and forth action, such as when freshman Evan De Ycaza scored in the 86th minute, just four minutes after the Musketeers took a 3-2 lead on a sloppy defensive effort from the Paladins. De Ycaza’s goal would send the game into overtime, where senior leader Martin Ontiveros was able to bury his second goal of the match for the win.

A highlight from earlier in the game: sophomore forward Tony Santibanez netted his first career goal, a good sign that he will be stepping up his contribution this year.

Sunday morning was the real test, however, as the team took on national powerhouse and eighth-ranked Akron Zips, who fashioned an 18-1-3 season last year. The game was deadlocked until the Zips were finally able to find the back of the net in the 58th minute.

Despite the loss, the Paladins played tough and this game goes a long way in showing this team has the talent to hang with anyone in the country. Next, the team heads home for a three game homestand against College of Charleston, Presbyterian, and the University of Vermont.

The lady Paladins also split their two games this week, putting together a 2-1 win over Presbyterian before falling 2-0 at the feet of the Georgia Bulldogs.

Sophomores led the way as Jamie Alexander and Stephanie DeVita both scored for Furman against PC, and Maggie Grissel made 11 saves in front of a home crowd of over 1,300.

A clear difference in talent level was evident in the game against Georgia. The speed and physical aspects of the game increased, and the Paladins were outshot 32-6. But Furman did a good job of limiting the damage, only allowing one of those shots to find the back of the net. The final score was 1-0, hardly a blemish on what will hopefully turn out to be a successful year.

The women have another home game against USC-Upstate on September 5th, before departing for a four game road trip so be sure to get out to Stone Soccer Stadium to support the team this week.