November 1, 2000
GREENVILLE, SC -- The 12th ranked Furman men's soccer team will begin its defense of the Southern Conference Tournament Title Thursday afternoon with an 4:30 a.m. match against The Citadel.
The Paladins have already completed their defense of the SoCon regular season title as they finished with a perfect 8-0 league mark for the second straight season. Counting last seasonıs conference tournament, the Paladins have won 19 straight Southern Conference matches, the second longest active streak in the nation. Furman has won the SoCon regular season title ten of the last 11 years and the SoCon Tournament title five of the last seven.
Furman is a heavy favorite to claim the SoCon Tournament Title, but will be challenged by a number of teams, most notably Davidson, UNCG, and Appalachian State. UNCG and Furman have met each of the last three years in the conference tournament final, with Furman winning two of three contests. This year, however, if the Spartans and Paladins meet it will be in the semifinals as UNCG is the fourth seed after losing a blind draw to break a three-way second place tie.
Furman dominated the 2000 all-conference balloting as the Paladins placed five players on the first team and two on the second team. Furman freshman McNeil Cronin was named league freshman-of-the-year.
If Furman advances to its third straight the SoCon finals, the program will be featured on radio and television. The Southern Conference finals will be televised on the Comcast/CSS network and Furman is planning an internet broadcast of the finals if either the men's or women's teams advance to Sundayıs championship. (For more information on the radio/tv broadcast go to www.furman.edu/soccer_mens)
The winner of the Southern Conference Tournament will receive a bid to an NCAA play-in match the following weekend. Last year, the Paladins advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
2000 Southern Conference Womenıs Soccer Tournament Quarterfinals:
Semifinals
Finals