Furman Game Notes
November 4, 1999
THE GAME
Furman enters the Southern Conference Tournament having won eight straight matches. The Paladins are ranked fourth in the nation, thier highest-ever national ranking. The Paladins will face The Citadel in the first round of the tournament at 11:30 a.m. on Friday at Blackbaud Stadium. The match will be Doug Allison's 100th career match at Furman. Furman currently owns a 21-match winning streak over The Citadel. Furman's semifinal match would be Saturday at 4:30 against the winner of Appalachian State and College of Charleston. The Southern Conference Championship match is slated for Sunday at 3 p.m. The winner of the SoCon Tournament will host the winner of the Big South in a play-in match next week.
HEAD COACH
Furman: Doug Allison (South Carolina '89)
72-20-7 (.763),5th Year at Furman
72-20-7 (.763), 5th Year Overall
NOTING THE PALADINS
HIGHEST RANKING EVER...Furman's current national ranking of 4th in Soccer America is the highest ever for the Furman soccer program. Prior to this season, the highest national ranking achieved by the Furman soccer team was a tenth place showing in a 1996 Soccer America poll. Furman eclipsed that mark on October 18 of this season and has risen each week since then. The Paladins are currently 8th in the NSCAA poll. Furman soccer is no stranger to the top 25, though, as the Paladins have been ranked in the top 25 every season since 1996 and at some point during seven years this decade. Furman finished the season ranked 16th in Soccer America in 1996 and was ranked for seven weeks that season. The Paladins were ranked during three weeks of the 1997 season and nine weeks last year.
LONGEST WINNING STREAK...Furman has now won eight matches in a row, which is the longest winning streak in school history. The Paladins have not lost since October 3 when then second-ranked Santa Clara downed the Paladins 1-0 at Clemson. The previous longest winning streak of six matches occurred in 1986, 1996, and earlier this season.
COMFORTABLE SITUATIONS ...Remarkably, Furman has trailed in only 37 minutes this season. The only times the Paladins have been behind are the final 20 minutes of the Santa Clara match and a 17-minute span against Clemson, when Furman was down 1-0. Furman has played in 1,599 minutes, meaning that the Paladins have either been tied with or led their opponents 97.7% of the time this year.
ALLISON AMONG THE NATION'S BEST...Furman head coach Doug Allison is currently in his fifth season at Furman and has posted a 72-20-7 overall record. Allison's winning percentage of 0.763 is third-best among active Division I head coaches. He trails only Indiana's Jerry Yeagley and SMU's Schellas Hyndman. Friday is Doug Allison's 100th match at Furman.
Top Winning Percentage Active Head Coaches (11/1/99)
A SUCCESS AT ALL LEVELS...Furman is not the first place that Doug Allison has found success in the collegiate ranks. Allison, native of Bath, England, came to the United States in 1984 to play soccer at the University of South Carolina. At USC, he led the Gamecocks to a combined 67-14-6 record as he is still South Carolina's all-time leading scorer with 63 goals and 32 assists. Prior to taking the Furman job, Allison served as an assistant coach at both North Carolina and South Carolina. In seven seasons as an assistant, Allison's teams compiled a 95-38-12 record. Allison's combined college soccer record as a player, assistant coach, and head coach is 234-72-25 for a .749 winning percentage.
EXPERIENCE COUNTS...When Furman seniors Seth Marks and Stephen Rodriguez take the field in Friday's match against The Citadel, they will tie Mike Freno and Brian Nickerson with 79 matches played as the most experienced soccer players in school history. Two other Paladins are close, as Graham Seagraves has played in 77 career matches and Daniel Alvarez has seen action in 75 contests.
THE KING OF ASSISTS...Furman senior Daniel Alvarez has taken down the Furman assist records this season. Midway through the season, Alvarez broke Furman's 12-year old career assist record with his assist in Furman's 1-0 win over Appalachian State. He surpassed Jeff Jones, who played on successful Furman teams from 1984-87. Alvarez now has 37 career assists. Alvarez' 12 assists this season ties the Furman single season record. Mike Freno also recorded 12 assists during his senior season in 1996. Many of Alvarez' assists this season have come in unusual fashion - on 35-yard throw-ins that are more dangerous than a typical corner kick. Alvarez currently ranks seventh in the nation in assists per match.
THE BERMUDA CONNECTION...The Paladin attack has once again been led by Bermuda's John Barry Nusum. Nusum, a sophomore from Devonshire, Bermuda, leads Furman with 10 goals and six assists on the season. Last year, Nusum scored 10 goals and recorded 11 assists to lead the Paladins. Allison actually went on a recruiting trip to Bermuda, an infrequent stop for traditional soccer powers, and found the young, but powerful Nusum. Nusum, a husky 6-1, 185 lb forward, is only 18 years-old. Students graduate high school a year earlier in Bermuda than in the United States, thus Nusum is the normal age of a college freshman.
WAITING HIS TURN...The Furman coaching staff knew they had something special in goalkeeper Scott Blount when he arrived at Furman in 1997. Blount filled in for an injured Ronnie Pascale and performed admirably early in his freshman season. When Pascale returned, Blount as forced to wait his turn as the All-South keeper finished his career in strong fashion. This season, the job belongs solely to Blount and he has performed remarkably. Selected to the Soccer America Team-of-the-Week during the first week of the season, Blount currently has the seventh-best goals against average in the nation. Blount has allowed only ten goals this season and has a goals against average of 0.61. Blount earned a redshirt last season, thus he currently holds sophomore status and should be a fixture in Furman's goal for the next two seasons.
QUICK STARTS...The Paladin soccer team has been a quick starter this season as they have outscored opponents 26-3 in the first half. The Paladins have never trailed at halftime and have led at the half in 14 of 17 matches this season. Furman has given new definition to the term quick start in two matches this season as the Paladins scored 16 seconds into the match against Wofford and 35 seconds into the match against The Citadel.
GREAT CROWDS...Furman's average home attendance this season is 1,370 fans a match. In the 1998 attendance rankings, that would place 12th in the nation. Furman has benefited from two huge in-state rivalry battles this season as the Clemson match drew 2,852 fans and the South Carolina match drew 2,345 spectators.
TEAM D...Furman ranks 11th in team defense with a 0.675 team goals against average. Furman's defense has allowed only 12 goals this season and allowed two goals in a match only once. Furman has been led by goalkeeper Scott Blount, sweeper Seth Marks, as well as Graham Seagraves, Jack Handy, John Bradford, and Matt Goldsmith.
NATIONAL STATS...Furman's ranks 13th in the nation in scoring with a 2.53 goals per match average. The Paladins rank 11th in team defense with a 0.675 team goals against average and third in winning percentage. Scott Blount and Daniel Alvarez both place seventh in the nation in their respective categories of goals against average and assists per match.
NATIONAL TEAM...Furman has six players on its team with some sort of national team experience. Headlining that list is current U.S. Under-20 National Team member Matt Goldsmith. Goldsmith took off Furman's winter and spring terms last year to travel to Nigeria to compete in the FIFA World Youth Championships. In addition to Goldsmith, John Bradford and Stephen Rodriguez were members of the Under-17 team. Scott Blount was invited to tryout for the U.S. Under-20 team. John Barry Nusum is a member of the Bermuda Under-23 National Team and Paul Leese advanced to the final round of tryouts for the Great Britain World University Games Team last summer.
TAKING DOWN THE BIG BOYS...When the men's soccer team defeated Clemson 3-2 in overtime on October 27 it was the start of a pretty impressive four day stretch for Furman athletics. Two days later, the women's soccer team knocked off 23rd-ranked Iowa and the football team destroyed North Carolina 28-3 the next day.
ELITE PROGRAMS..The combined records of the Furman men's and women's soccer programs is 33-3-1, the best combined record in the nation. The Furman women's team is 18-2 and also seeking the Southern Conference Tournament championship this weekend. Santa Clara holds the next best winning record, with a combined 30-3-1 mark.
TRIPLE TITLE...For the first time in school history, three fall sports are in sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference standings. While the men's and women's soccer teams have already won the SoCon title, the Furman football team is 5-0 and will face Georgia Southern this weekend in a big match with conference title implications.