November 29, 2002

MEN'S SOCCER SET TO FACE STANFORD IN NCAA THIRD ROUND

PALO ALTO, CA -- The Furman men's soccer team will face the tenth ranked Stanford Cardinal on Sunday afternoon at Stanford's Maloney Field in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of the Stanford-Furman match will face the winner of the Clemson-Wake Forest match, with the winner advancing to the 2002 NCAA College Cup in Dallas.

Furman is currently 19-2-1, earning the Southern Conference regular season title. Stanford enters the match with a 14-4-2 overall record, good for a third place finish in the Pac-10 Conference.

Furman is coming off an electrifying 4-2 shootout victory over eighth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth on Wednesday. The match ended in a 0-0 tie and went to a penalty kick shootout. Furman goalkeeper Alex Maslow made two huge saves, and Ricardo Clark netted the decisive penalty kick to seal the win for the Paladins.

The shutout was the 11th straight for Furman, setting a new NCAA Division I record. The previous record of ten was shared by Wisconsin-Green Bay, SMU, and Virginia. Furman has also put together 1052 consecutive shutout minutes. The Paladins have not allowed a goal since the first half of a match on October 5 against St. Louis. Furman is currently ranked first in the nation in shutout percentage at 0.73 shutouts per match.

Stanford is coming off an exciting 10-9 shootout victory over Portland. The match ended in a 0-0 tie before the Cardinal outlasted the Pilots in the shootout. Stanford is led offensively by Roger Levesque, who has five goals and 13 assists on the year. Robby Fulton anchors the Cardinal defense in goal as he sports a 0.38 goals against average.

Furman is making its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament and its sixth overall. Sunday's match will mark the first ever meeting between the two schools.