By MONTE DUTTON
The Southern Conference schedule begins for Furman at home when Samford takes on the Paladins at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Paladins have already dropped as many games as in the entire 2024 season, in which they won their 15th SoCon title. Head coach Clay Hendrix leads an inexperienced but talented squad that has won only once in four tries, the most recent a 34-24 victory by William & Mary on Saturday.
In addition, the Paladins have been bludgeoned by national power Ole Miss, 76-0, edged by Charleston Southern, 24-20, and pounced on Stetson, 48-7.
Hendrix feels the team’s day is coming. The Paladins have to eliminate the mistakes that have let CSU and W&M slip away. The Bulldogs visit for Furman’s third of six games at Paladin Stadium this season.
In Williamsburg, Va., on Saturday, Furman (1-3) gave up 482 yards, a whopping 384 of them on the ground. Furman gained a total of 384, 264 of them through the air. Freshman Trey Hedden went the distance behind center, completing 13/26 passes, two touchdowns matched to two interceptions.
“A lot of what we’re doing wrong is fixable,” said Hendrix and his Monday media gathering. “We have some talent, but we’ve got to do some things better than we’re doing them.
“I think we’re getting better. Trey (Hedden) is getting better and does a lot of good things. He also does a lot of freshman things. … There’s a lot of good things to see, and we’ve got some talent.”
William & Mary (3-1) entered the contest ranked 12th in one national FCS poll and 13th in another. It’s no small feat to defeat the Tribe in its home stadium.
“There’s optimism, right? If that’s the No. 12 team in the country, and I think you can say legitimately they are, we’re not far off,” Hendrix said. “The key is going out and doing it, week in and week out.
“That’s our job as coaches. I’m a pretty positive guy, but we got home and our guys are accountable, and that’s coaches, too.”
Samford (1-2) opened with a 38-29 loss to West Georgia, followed by a 45-7 loss to Florida and a 12-7 decision over Alabama State. The game is at Furman, but both teams are at about the same place.”
Furman finished third as a team, and sophomore Audrey Ryu (-4) placed sixth in the individual standings at the 50th Annual Lady Paladin Invitational at the University golf course.
A native of Dublin, Ohio, Ryu started on No. 1 in the shotgun round and birdied three of her first six holes to turn at 2-under. She added birdies on Nos. 11 and 16 for five birdies in round three.
Ryu finished four strokes back of individual champion Keira Gonzalez-McCarthy (-8) of Augusta, who sank a 30-foot birdie on No. 18 to win the tournament by one stroke over the Western Kentucky duo of Averi Cline (-7) and Catie Craig (-7). Cline tied a tournament record with a 64 in the final round.
Senior Alise Knudson (+1) carded a 1-under 71 with three birdies, including consecutive birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 to tie for 12th, while freshman Eva Ringwald (+4) finished 19th after shooting a 2-under 70 with five birdies on Sunday. She birdied 3/4 holes from No. 13 to 16 to keep the Paladins in the team competition.
Xavier (-1) won the tournament by six strokes over Western Kentucky (+5). Furman (+7) led the field with a 2-under 286 on Sunday to finish third, followed by Old Dominion (+11) and UNC Wilmington (+11), which tied for fourth in the 13-team field.
Furman will compete at Old Dominion’s Evie Odom Invitational in Virginia Beach, Va., Oct. 4-6.
Five different Paladins found the back of the net, including four in the second half, as Furman pulled away from VMI, 5-1, Sunday afternoon on Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium.
With the victory, Furman stretched its unbeaten women’s run to six consecutive matches (4-0-2) and improved to 5-4-2 overall and 1-0-1 in the league. VMI dipped to 4-5-1 overall and 0-2 in SoCon play.
Tied at 1-1 after 45 minutes, the Paladins began their second-half drive in the 55th minute when Tara Katz collected a failed clearance on the left side of the box following a Furman corner kick and slipped a low shot past the VMI goalkeeper at the 54:49 mark for the eventual match-winning tally.
Less than 10 minutes later, Valentina Mosquera received a pinpoint pass over the top of the defense from Shania Diaz and cut inside her defender before depositing a shot in the right side of the net at the 63:48 mark to increase the Furman lead to 3-1.
In the 85th minute, Norah Roller got around her defender on the left side of the box and was taken down to earn the Paladins a penalty kick which senior Ashlyn Goila converted at the 84:24 mark. Lexy Faklaris capped the scoring with her first collegiate goal at 87:53 by tapping in a Madison Luckett cross inside the six-yard box.
“We showed a lot more composure and a better finishing touch in the second half,” said Furman coach Andrew Burr. I really like seeing five different players score today and see so many different players get a chance to play.”
Nieva Gaither opened the scoring for Furman in the 16th minute on assists from Ellie Herrmann and Tara Katz before Barrett Callejo equalized for the Keydets at 24:51. Gaither’s goal marked her second of the week.
Furman posted a 23-9 advantage in total shots and 13-4 edge in shots on goal. The Paladins also managed a 13-2 margin in corner kicks earned.
Addison Corn and Reese DeJong each recorded a save in goal for the Paladins, while Whitney Tracy made eight saves for VMI.
Furman continues its three-match homestand on Friday when it hosts preseason SoCon favorite Western Carolina. Kickoff at Stone Stadium is 7 p.m.
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