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| Furman coach Doug Allison huddles alongside Paladin legend Clint Dempsey, middle, and the current team prior to a match earlier this season. Photo courtesy of Furman |
A taste of NCAA Tournament success would be enough to motivate any team to build off of that the next season. Throw in being the final chance to play for a coaching legend and Furman men's soccer has all the more motivation to make this season a special one.
The Paladins have certainly played like they're on a highly motivated mission thus far. Doug Allison, the winningest coach in Southern Conference history, announced this 31st season of coaching Furman would be his last back in April. The Paladins' response has seen them as highly ranked as No. 3 nationally in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 poll after going 4-0-3 to start this season.
The Paladins (7-1-4, 0-0-1 SoCon) are currently 16th in the Top Drawer poll and No. 25 in the College Soccer News Top 25. Rankings aren't really a concern of Allison's at the moment and any hint of nostalgia about this being his final season has been shoved to the backest of burners.
"I'm not thinking about any of that. I'm only thinking about my team," Allison said following Furman's 3-2 win over Presbyterian Tuesday at Seagraves Field at Stone Soccer Stadium. "How can we help them and motivate them. That's my job."
Tuesday's victory wasn't easy. Coming off what had to have been a bit of a disappointing 1-1 tie in the SoCon opener at Mercer (2-6-3) Saturday night, the Paladins went through a rather listless first half and trailed 1-0 at the break. Presbyterian held Furman without a shot on goal in the first half and took the lead on a score with just 41 seconds left.
In the second half, the Paladins posted a 10-6 advantage in shots. Furman still could not find the net until Luke Hutzell's goal in the 73rd minute tied things up at 1-1. That began a flurry of goals. Less than four minutes later, reigning SoCon Player of the Week Braden Dunham scored his fourth goal of the season - all over the last three games. Just over four minutes later, leading scorer Diego Hernandez pushed the lead to 3-1 with his sixth goal off an assist from Wilfer Bustamante.
Hernandez' goal became a bigger one two minutes later when the Blue Hose tallied another score to cut the lead to one, but Furman held on for the victory.
"The last 45 minutes, we played well. We challenged them in the locker room (at halftime). These guys, under the leadership of this guy here, did a great job in the midfield," Allison said as he stood next to Hernandez. "Division One wins are not easy to come by. So I'm proud of how the guys responded."
Hernandez and his teammates are looking to build off a memorable 2024 season. After a third-place finish in the SoCon, Furman ousted regular season league champion UNC Greensboro in the SoCon Tournament semifinals before defeating ETSU in the SoCon championship. The Paladins' 10th conference tournament crown sent them back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
In the opening round at North Carolina, Furman stunned the Tar Heels in penalty kicks, 5-3. The victory came 25 years to the day that the Paladins stunned UNC in the opening round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament on their way to reaching the quarterfinals. Last season ended with a loss to Marshall in round two.
"Last year, I was coming back from a hard year and a hard injury and the guys in our locker room had my back," said Hernandez, who scored the game-clinching penalty kick in the win over UNC. "This year, we still have a team of brothers. We know that's what it takes for the team to win and that's what we try to do every game - come out and win together. ... When you have a team of guys who are bought in and want to win, the next mountain top doesn't seem too high."
The Paladins seem to have the right pieces back to make this season another memorable one. Hutzell and Bustamante were second team All-SoCon performers last season as was senior Lloyd Wamu Snell. Furman also returned SoCon Goalkeeper of the Year Aaron Salinas, although he and Snell have been injured most of the year. Snell made his season debut and logged 20 minutes off the bench Tuesday against PC, while Salinas remains out indefinitely. Freshman Ivan Horvat has been a solid replacement for Salinas this season as he's tallied 33 saves and recorded two shutouts.
On Friday, Hernandez was announced as one of 31 players - and one of just two in the SoCon - on the watch list for the 2025 Hermann Trophy. The Hermann is annually presented to the national player of the year. In addition to his six goals in 12 games this season, Hernandez also has five assists.
"(Snell) is a captain, a leader and an awesome kid. ... I wanted to see how he works out tonight, how he feels tomorrow, and see if we can get him in a little bit for more minutes every game because he's a terrific player," Allison said. "Great kids have been the key to our success this season. I'm very lucky to work with great kids."
Entering this season, Allison had a career record of 349-173-72. The 349 wins ranked as the 11th most among active head coaches. He's coached 30 All-Americans and World Cup stars such as Ricardo Clark, Walker Zimmerman and Clint Dempsey, who had his jersey retired earlier this season.
While Allison's focus is solely on the next match, his players certainly want to make this season as special as possible for their coach. Still, they're focused on the next task at hand as well.
Just what you'd expect from a well-coached team.
"There's just always that satisfying feeling of winning a game and knowing that everybody put a drop in the bucket," Hernandez said. "Tonight was another moment like that.
"Moving forward, we just want to keep the ball rolling. Some conference teams want to play differently, but that's not going to be us this year. We're a firm team with a good locker room and a good culture. That means we're going to be unshaken."
Furman has its SoCon home opener Saturday when the Paladins host ETSU for Senior Night at 7 p.m.
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