November 15, 1999

FURMAN MEN'S SOCCER TO HOST NORTH CAROLINA IN NCAA FIRST ROUND

GREENVILLE, SC -- The Furman men's soccer team will host North Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m., in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the Furman-UNC match will play the winner of Virginia Commonwealth at Wake Forest.

The Paladins, 19-1-1, won the Southern Conference championship and defeated Radford 1-0 in a play-in game to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Furman is currently riding the nation's longest winning streak as the Paladins have won 12 matches in a row. Despite a top five ranking in the national polls, Furman was not awarded one of the top eight seeds. Duke is the tournament's top seed, while Wake Fores is the fifth seed in the tournament. North Carolina is 12-6-1 on the season.

Furman is making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first since 1993. The Paladins hold a 1-2 lifetime record in the NCAA Tournament as Furman defeated Wake Forest in the first round of the 1991 tournament and lost to N.C. State in the second round of the 1991 tournament. In 1993, the Paladins were downed by South Carolina 1-0.

"I am excited that we will get a chance to show the country what we can do in the playoffs," said Furman head coach Doug Allison. "North Carolina is a very good team and I expect it to be a battle."

Allison, in his fifth season as head coach of Furman spent the 1990 and 1991 seasons as an assistant coach at North Carolina under current Tar Heel coach Elmar Bolowich. Since Allison's arrival at Furman, the Paladins and the Tar Heels have split two meetings. North Carolina won 2-1 in 1996 in Chapel Hill, while Furman defeated UNC 2-1 in Greenville during the 1997 season. Current Paladin senior Daniel Alvarez scored with less than minute remaining to give Furman the victory. UNC holds a 6-2-1 all-time advantage over Furman, though Furman is 2-1-1 against UNC in the 1990s.

While this is Allison's first NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach, he is not new to the postseason. During his playing career at USC, the Gamecocks made three appearances including a quarterfinal finish in 1985. As an assistant at USC ('88, '91-'94), he was part of four postseason appearances, including a national runner-up finish in 1993. Including one postseason appearance as an assistant coach at North Carolina, Allison has been a part of eight NCAA Tournaments and has posted a 10-8 record.

Two members of the 1999 Paladin squad have NCAA Tournament appearance as Paul Leese played for Charleston Southern in 1997 in a 3-0 loss to South Carolina in the first round. Ryan Conway played for Clemson in 1997 as the Tigers won two matches and advanced to the quarterfinals.