THE GAME
Furman is making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first as an at-large selection. Last season, Furman earned an NCAA Tournament bid after winning the Southern Conference Tournament title and lost 1-0 to Central Florida. The winner of the Duke-Furman match will play at third seeded Clemson Saturday night at 7 p.m.
THE SERIES
This is the first ever meeting between the two schools.
THE COACH
Furman: Brian Lee (Furman '93)
2000 SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Furman (20-2, 9-0 SoCon)
Duke (13-7-1, 4-3 ACC)
SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS
After starting out the season 8-0, Duke is 5-7-1, but has played nine matches against teams that were ranked at the time of the match. Duke is the only team that has beaten Clemson this year as they have downed the Tigers twice. The Blue Devils finished in a four way tie for second place in the ACC and advanced to the conference tournament final where they lost to UNC 4-0.
Duke and Furman have played six common opponents this year. Furman is 6-2 in eight matches against those common opponents, while Duke is 4-3 against those teams. Both teams earned victories over South Carolina and Davidson. Furman claimed wins over N.C. State and Vanderbilt, while the Blue Devils lost to the Wolfpack and the Commodores. Duke has defeated Clemson twice, while Furman lost to Clemson. Furman split with UNCG and Duke lost its only meeting with the Spartans.
NOTING THE PALADINS
NCAA TOURNAMENT...Furman is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Lady Paladins lost to Central Florida 1-0 at home in last year's tournament. Furman is 1-2 against teams in the field as the Lady Paladins split two matches against UNCG and lost to Clemson.
CHAMPIONS...Furman has now won the last two Southern Conference regular season titles with perfect 9-0 records each year. Furman holds a SoCon record three conference titles as the Lady Paladins also won in 1995. Furman has won three SoCon titles (1995, 1999, 2000), while UNCG (1997, 1998) and Davidson (1994, 1996) have each won two conference titles. Furman dropped the SoCon final to UNCG, ending Furman's 23 match Southern Conference winning streak
23 MATCH STREAK HALTED...Furman's 23 match winning streak was halted by UNCG in the SoCon final. Dating back to the start of the 1999 season, Furman had won 23 straight Southern Conference matches. That streak is the eighth longest conference unbeaten streak in NCAA Division I history. In the course of that streak, Furman outscored conference opponents 82-16 and 11 of those matches were shutouts.
BEST SEASON EVER...As successful a year as 1999 was, the 2000 campaign has the potential to be the best season in school history. Coach Brian Lee started the Furman program from scratch in 1994 and actually claimed the Southern Conference regular season title in his second year. The women's soccer program did not claim its first winning season until 1997 and has been on fire since. After a 12-6-2 season in '97 and a 13-8 record in 1998, Furman put itself on the national women's soccer map last season with a 20-3 campaign and the first NCAA Tournament trip and Southern Conference Tournament Title in the school's history. This year's team cracked the top 25 for the first time ever this year and is ranked as high as #25 now. Furman's winning percentage ranks 3rd in the nation behind Notre Dame and Nebraska.
SECOND IN NATION... Over the last two seasons, Furman has tallied a 40-5 record (20-3 in 1999, 20-2 in 2000), good for third best in the nation behind only Nebraska and Notre Dame. That record tops perennial national champion North Carolina by one game. Team 1999 2000 Combined Nebraska 21-1-2 21-1 42-2-2 Notre Dame 21-4-1 20-0-1 41-4-2 Furman 20-3 20-2 40-5 North Carolina 24-2 16-3 38-5
WINNING STREAK...Furman has posted two impressive winning streaks this season. The Lady Paladins started the season with ten straight wins, lost 1-0 to Clemson, then won ten straight more matches before losing 1-0 to UNCG. The Furman record is 11 straight wins from October 5, 1999 through November 7, 1999. 4 OCTOBER FEST...October has been quite the month for the Lady Paladins over the last two seasons as Furman is a perfect 14-0. In 1999, Furman lost 4-3 to South Carolina on September 30 and didn't lose again until the NCAA Tournament on November 10. This season, Furman dropped its only match of the season on September 23 to Clemson and have won eight straight.
THE RECORDS KEEP FALLING...Furman has broken a number of records again this season. Entering the season, the Furman single season record for goals was 13. Three players have topped that mark this season, led by Emily Turgeon's 22 goals. Turgeon has also broken the single season points record as she has 61 points so far this season. The old record was 43 by Kaye Brownlee last season. With two more assists Turgeon can make it a clean sweep of single season records as she has 17 assists on the year, two shy of Brownlee's 1999 mark of 19. As a team, this Furman team has broken records for goals, wins at home, and wins on the road.
TURBO TURGEON...Freshman Emily Turgeon has made an immediate impact for the Lady Paladins this season. Turgeon is currently the nation's leader in points as she has 61 points on 22 goals and 17 assists this season. She has recorded a goal or an assist in 17 of Furman's 22 matches. Below is a list of the top five scorers in Division I this year and a list of the top three freshman point performances in NCAA history. NCAA records only list players with 67 or more points in a season, so Turgeon would need eight more points to rank third all-time in NCAA history. She also became the first player in SoCon women's soccer history to be named freshman-of-the-year and player-of-the-year in the same season.
2000 NCAA D-I Leaders (Total Points):
Player, School Points (G/A)
Top Freshman Scorers In NCAA D-1 History
Player, School Year Points (G/A)
FRESHMAN DUO...One of Turgeon's counterparts up top for Furman is fellow freshman and roommate Danielle Petro. Petro has had an incredibly successful season as well as she has scored 15 goals and recorded 8 assists on the year. One of Petro's biggest goals came in the SoCon quarterfinals as she scored the overtime game-winner. She also scored the lone goal in Furman's 1-0 shutout of UNCG to clinch the conference title and notched a hat trick in her first-ever collegiate match against ETSU.
SCORING FORWARDS...While it may not seem unusual to most, Furman's scoring has been dominated by forwards this year. Last season, Furman's midfield provided most of the scoring punch, but in 2000, Furman's three starting forwards have 22, 18, and 15 goals this season (67 percent of Furman's scoring).
UNSTOPPABLE TURNER...Melissa Turner has been one of Furman's most prolific scorers again this season. After tying for the team lead with 13 goals a year ago, Turner has increased her scoring punch this season to score 18 goals and notch 12 assists. She ranks among the nation's top 10 in scoring this season. Turner is one goal away from tying Melissa Sutton as Furman's all-time leading goal scorer.
SPECIAL KAYE...While Kaye Brownlee has not put up the same statistical numbers she did her first two years, her play has not diminished. Brownlee became Furman's first 1st Team All American in 1999 as she was an NSCAA first team All American. Brownlee was also the Southern Conference female athlete-of-the-year a year ago. This season, she has scored five goals and recorded 11 assists as one of Furman's two center midfielders. She came up big with the game-winner to beat Davidson in the SoCon semifinals. Her 47 career assists currently ranks 24th all-time in NCAA Division I history and she is on pace to finish in the top ten. Kaye was selected as a first team All-Southern Conference pick for the third year in a row.
WELCOMED ADDITION...One of the most pleasant surprises after the 1999 season was addition of Nancy Mather to the Lady Paladin program. Mather played at Michigan for two seasons where she helped lead the Wolverines to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a second round appearance in 1999. She played in 41 matches, while starting 14 for Michigan over her two years in Ann Arbor. Mather joined the Lady Paladin program last spring and made an immediate impact. After coming off the bench for the first three matches of this season, Mather earned a starting spot as outside midfielder and has started every match since. Lee moved Mather to sweeper in the Western Carolina match and she has played all 90 minutes in every match since then as Furman's defensive anchor.
CONSISTENCY...Senior Sarah Tollick has been one of Furman's most consistent playmakers and leaders over her career. Tollick has started all 86 matches that Furman has played over her career, a Furman record. She ranks second all-time in career assists with 33, sixth all-time in career goals with 21, and fourth all-time in career points with 77. 4 ALL SOCON...Furman dominated the All-Southern Conference teams as six Lady Paladins were selected to the first team. Senior Sarah Tollick made had her second straight all-conference season as was a first team pick for the first time. Senior Bridgett Giles made the first team for the second straight season and is now a three-time all-conference pick. Juniors Kaye Brownlee and Lauren Killey were first team selections for the third straight year, while junior Melissa Turner has been an all-conference selection three times, including two first team picks. Rounding out Furman's first team selections was SoCon Player-of-the-Year and Freshman-of-the-Year Emily Turgeon. Two Lady Paladins were second team picks as goalkeeper Melissa Barnes and freshman forward Danielle Petro earned honors. For Barnes it was her third straight all-conference season (one first team, two second team picks).
OVERTIME WARRIORS...Furman went the entire regular season without a single overtime match, after advancing to overtime eight times last season. But both of the Lady Paladin's tournament games this season have been won in overtime. Furman is 2-0 in overtime this year and was 6-2 last season in the extra periods. 4 TOP 25...On September 18, Furman cracked the top 25 for the first time in school history as the Lady Paladins were ranked in both the American Soccer Writer's national poll and the Soccer Buzz poll. Furman entered ASW at 25th and Soccer Buzz as 23rd. The Lady Paladins have risen each week and have been ranked as high as13th by both the American Soccer Writers and by Soccer Buzz. Furman finished 13th in the final ASW poll before the conference tournaments and is 25th in this week's Soccer Buzz poll.
DEFENSE! DEFENSE!...While Furman is 3rd in the nation in scoring, the Paladin defense has also made a big difference. Led by marking backs Bridgett Giles and Lauren Killey along with sweeper Nancy Mather and goalkeeper Melissa Barnes, Furman has allowed only 20 goals this season.
IN THE NATIONAL STATS...Furman currently ranks in several national statistical categories. Individually, Emily Turgeon leads the nation in total points and is second in points per match, while Melissa Turner places tenth in total points and 16th in points per match. As a team, the Paladins entered the week 3rd in scoring and third in winning percentage.
BEST EVER SOCON...The 2000 season has easily been the best season in Southern Conference history. Furman has been in the national top 20 for most of the year, while four SoCon teams have been ranked in the region's top ten for most of the season (Furman, UNCG, Georgia Southern, and Davidson). The Southern Conference owns a respectable 3-6-1 record against the ACC and is 6-4-1 against the ACC. The top four teams in the Southern Conference are 3-4-1 against the ACC and 6-0 against the SEC. For the first time in league history, two Southern Conference teams earned bids to the NCAA Tournament. The SoCon had more bids (2) than the SEC (1), Atlantic 10 (1), and Conference USA (1) and the same number as the Big XII and the Colonial.
BEATING THE BIG BOYS...Furman defeated three teams from the SEC, one from the ACC, one from the Big East, and one from Conference USA this season. In those matches against schools from much larger conferences, the Paladins outscored opponents 26-8.
SOUTHERN CONNECTION...The Furman women's soccer team is comprised of an array of talent from throughout the Southeast plus some from a bit farther. Home States (24 man roster) Georgia: 6 Florida: 4 North Carolina: 3 Maryland: 2 Alabama: 2 South Carolina: 2 Tennessee: 1 Kentucky: 1 Virginia: 1 Texas: 1 New York: 1
ELITE PROGRAMS...For the second straight season, the combined record of the Furman men's and women's soccer teams is one of the best in the nation. Last season, their combined record was tops in the country, this season it is second behind North Carolina. The Furman men are 16-3-2, while the Furman women are 20-2. Clemson, just a 45 minute ride from Furman, has the third best combined record in the nation, thus the top three overall soccer programs in the country, in terms of winning percentage, are in the Carolinas.
School Men Women Total .Pct