GREENVILLE, S.C. - Furman scored twice in the first half, then avoided a pair of near chances by Loyola in the second half en route to a 2-0 victory in a Division I NCAA men's soccer opening-round match yesterday.
The Paladins (18-2-1), ranked eighth in the nation, will take on Virginia Commonwealth in a second-round match Wednesday. Furman tied an NCAA record with its 10th consecutive shutout.
The loss ended a 12-game unbeaten streak for Loyola (13-5-3), which advanced to the round of 16 last year.
"They are very solid in the back defensively," said Loyola coach Mark Mettrick. "We played with an extra forward today, which we normally don't do, and we had scarce number of chances considering we did that. But we felt like if we sat back against them, it would have been a matter of time before they took control. We felt like we needed to try and take the game at them."
The Paladins' first goal came 11:17 into the match when Wes Windsor stepped up from his fullback spot and scored his first goal of the season. After Sergei Raad streaked across the top of the box and left-footed a shot that Greyhounds keeper Reb Beatty deflected to his left, Windsor ran in and calmly touched the ball into the net.
The Paladins added their second goal with seven minutes left in the half when Anthony Esquivel sent in a rebound after Beatty knocked down Drew Moor's close-range shot.
"That goal before the half was big for them," Mettrick said. "We gave the ball away 35 yards from our goal, which you can't do against a good team. At 1-0, we knew we were still in the game and felt ultimately we were going to tie it up. But giving up that second goal was a tough one to concede."
The start of the second half saw the Greyhounds come tantalizingly close to finding the back of the net. Four minutes in, Vinnie Piscopo hit a shot from the right wing that smacked the near post, bounced up and hit the crossbar, then spun out toward the field of play before Furman goalie Alex Maslow finally tucked the ball in.
Four minutes after Piscopo's near miss, Nate Lyden moved in alone from the right wing, drawing Maslow from his line. Lyden touched the ball past Maslow, but his shot toward the vacant net sailed over the crossbar.
"If we could have just gotten one of those goals, I think it would have been a different match," Mettrick said. "We might have been able to make them a bit leery.
"We graduated 10 players from last year's team. ... For a team with 10 freshmen, we were able to live up to some high expectations. I commend our team for our effort today and for the season we have had."
Goals: F-Esquivel, Windsor. Assists: F-Moor, Raad. Saves: F-Maslow 2; L-Beatty 7. Half: Furman 2-0.