PORTLAND, OR--How do you measure the magic of a moment, or maybe the better question should be phrased, what is the weight of stacks of accomplishments condensed into a moment for an opportunity to accomplish something never before accomplished?
For Furman freshman center half and SoCon Freshman of the Year Braden Dunham, time to philosophically consider such program altering achievement probably weren't close to being in his thoughts in the magical moment he was able to produce in the 75th minute.
With just 15 minutes to play, Dunham had just crossed the halfway line and dribbled about 25 yards when he saw Portland goalkeeper Miguel Angel Hernandez creeping off his line ever so slightly and just enough to drive perfect ball at just the right height from about 45 yards out to beat the Pilots' goalkeeper, who would have needed a step-ladder to pluck the ball from the air and keep it out of the net.
That moment of magic from Dunham was enough to ultimately give the 16th-seeded Paladins the 1-0 win over the eighth-seeded Pilots before a crowd of 4,252 fans on-hand at Merlo Stadium.
The Paladins will face another opportunity to exorcise a demon from years past in the next round of the NCAA Tournament, as the Paladins will now face Washington (14-6-2) in the Men's Soccer Division I College Cup Friday night in Cary, N.C. The Huskies were able to upset No. 4 Maryland, 3-1, on the road to move into next weekend's matchup with the Paladins.
Kickoff between the Paladins and Huskies is set for 6 p.m. EST at First Horizon Stadium in Cary, N.C. The last time Furman and Washington met in the NCAA Tournament, the Paladins lost a heartbreaker in Seattle in 2014. After the match ended scoreless in the Round of 32, the Paladins lost 6-5 on PKs to bring an end to a strong campaign.
With the win, SoCon Champion Furman improved to 16-1-5, including keeping intact its 14-match unbeaten streak, while West Coast Conference champion Portland sees its season come to an end, finishing 14-2-4.
Furman's semifinal against Washington will mark the first of two semifinals to take place Friday night, as No. 15 North Carolina State (15-2-4) will face Saint Louis (13-2-8) approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the match between the Paladins and Huskies.
The upstart Huskies continued their run of upsetting seeded foes in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, defeating No. 4 Maryland--the highest seed remaining in the 2025 men's tournament, 3-1, Saturday afternoon in College Park. In the Sweet 16, the Huskies went on the road to knock off the No.12 Stanford, 1-0, in Palo Alto. The 2025 season marks the second appearance in the college cup for the Huskies
Furman is playing for the moment, and they have been fearless when any of the previous three games could have been an end to a dream. But dreaming a collective dream can be quite the rallying cry, and it has proven to be just that in Allison's final season. The team is playing for a coach they love and for a dream they always had, winning the highest prize at the level at which you play.
This team doesn't have the appearance of one that is feeling the weight of success from a program that has fashioned stars such as Clint Demspey, Walker Zimmerman, Ray Colado, Andrew Zorovich, Andrew Burr, Shea Salinas and Ricardo Clark among many others not named. Rather, this 2025 edition of the Furman soccer team fashions the uniw crest as a badge of honor in representation of such a hall-of-fame lineage. There's a big difference between the weight of tradition and a badge of honor. Furman has chosen to represent the badge to pay homage to a past filled with stars, accomplishments and big wins, rather than shouldering the pressure to achieve as much or to compare themselves to the past. In truth, that's what has allowed such a special season to transfer for Allison's Paladins.
Furman has been on a mission since its early-season, 1-0, home loss to College of Charleston. It's unbeaten in 14-straight games,
That 1-0 loss came back on Sept. 16, 2025. Almost three months later, Furman's 1-0 win over Portland late Friday night in an Elite Eight Clash saw the Paladins became only the second team in Southern Conference men's soccer history to reach the College Cup (Final Four of men's soccer), joining the 1992 Davidson Wildcats that qualified for the Men's Soccer College Cup under former legendary head coach Charlie Slagle (209-career wins/2nd in SoCon history) with a magical breakthrough season that made it possible for mid-majors to not only compete at a high level, but to break down the door and not only compete, but to win.
In recent years, Akron (201), Marshall (2020) and Vermont (2024) proved that it can be done. Furman has now officially proven it can compete and win against the best college soccer has to offer. But then again, it's done that for a long time.
So how do you measure the magic of a moment, or what is the weight of stacks of accomplishments condensed into a moment for an opportunity to accomplish something never before accomplished?
In the case of Furman's 2025 men's soccer team--the last edition Doug Allison will coach--you honor it. You honor it moment-by-moment until the sum of those moments makes a remarkable finished product and picture.
The real secret for Furman is that there has never been a weight of pressure to carry a legacy of those who came before, but it's been about the joy of playing and their love for a coach that fueled a run that furthers an already strong legacy. Their playing to honor their coach and for each other. That's where the magic can be found, and where the pressure subsides.
Match Recap:
The game between the Paladins and Pilots wasn't your typical 1-0 game. For much of the opening half of play, the Pilots were the agressor, taking the game to the Paladins. As is the case when your on the road in the playoffs in many sports, the Paladins were resigned to weathering an early barrage of opportunities from the Pilots, who were on the front foot from the outset.
Ultimately, Ivan Horvat's play between the pipes would prove pivotal the entire night, and it would begin with being able to make three important saves in the opening half to keep the score level and keep Furman's proverbial head above water. Horvat ended the night with seven total saves, including one on a point-blank header late in the game, preserving the Paladins' narrow one-goal lead.
Horvat was forced to make three of his seven saves in the opening 45 minutes. It took the Pilots until the 20th minute to forge their first best opportunity on goal of the night, however, Horvat was equal to the task, making a good save. Horvat was forced to slide at the feet of Pilots' attacker Anton Hjalmarrson, taking the ball from his boot to take away a golden early scoring opportunity for Portland.
The Paladins would finally be given a bit of a reprieve when Wilfer Bustamante broke down the left flank before slaloming to the middle to create enough space to get off a hard, low shot that bounced into the waiting arms of Miguel Angel Hernandez at the in the 26th minute.
Those would account for the best chances from both sides in the opening half of play, as the two teams headed to the locker room, tied 0-0, with Portland on "auto-pilot" at that point in the game.
With halftime adjustments made, it wouldn't take long for Allison's Paladins to carve out the best chance of the night, however, Gabe Cox's 10-yard near-post screamer hit metal, caroming out to the right side.
Just as quickly as Cox nearly posted a breakthrough for the Paladins, the Pilots would respond with an effort that struck the crossbar when Diego Roasas' 25-yard effort swerved away from Horvat, who was playing about five yards off his line, and struck the crossbar and deflected over, as the goal shook in the 52nd minute. A collective gasp was heard from the partisan Portland crowd of better than 4,500.
In the 70th minute, the Pilots would continue to sojourn forward into their opposition's half, and wouldn't take long for the home team to conjure up another outstanding scoring opportunity, forcing a strong, two-handed save out of Horvat following a point-blank header from Pilots' leading goal-scorer Joe Highfield. It was Horvat's fourth save of the evening, and it was also his most important leading up to that juncture of the match.
With the game picking up pace in the 70th minute, the Paladins put together an opportunity of their own, which would have the exact same result. Senior Landon Hill's side-volley attempt from about 19 yards out at the corner of the box, meeting the ball perfectly with his laces, and by getting his body and knee over the ball to keep it down and create a power, it saw Portland's goalkeeper Hernandez rooted to a spot motionless, as the strike looked earmarked for the upper corner until striking the corner of the post and crossbar, as it went out for a goal kick.
Just over five minutes after Hill's cracker, a game of high quality would get a goal of the highest quality, which came from Furman's freshman central defender Braden Dunham. Teammate and fellow central defender Ryan Wagner came across to cover space with Dunham pushed forward and unable to recover his position quickly enough to stop the advancing Portland attack. However, Wagner's timing was precise on the tackle, and thwart would have been a clear fastbreak for the Pilots.
However, Dunham collected the loose ball and had about 25 yards of space to dribble into once he collected the ball at just about the halfway line. Somewhere between 40-45 yards he realized Hernandez was playing well off his line, and a moment of imagination and creativity ultimately resulted in a little bit one of the best conceived goals in the recent history of Furman soccer.
Dunham drove a ball that with an exact trajectory, which was angled for the right corner of Hernandez's goal, and the ball was out of the reach of Hernandez and in the path of the corner of Portland's net, which the ball met net in the air, as Furman assumed a 1-0 lead with a little over 15 minutes remaining. It was Dunham's seventh goal of his rookie season with the Paladins, and undoubtedly his most important.
Portland would launch the best it had in attack at Furman over the course of the final 15 minutes, and it nearly proved a fruitful. After turning the Pilots away for over 12 minutes, it looked as if Furman was going to get to Cary and its College Cup without having had to dodge a serious scoring threat from the Pilots. However, in the final two minutes, the Pilots had a couple of excellent scoring chances. The first came from Sebastian Hernandez, who headed just over the corner crossbar off an in-swinging corner from Roasas at the 88:04 mark.
The final chance was even more harrowing for Furman, which no doubt caused more than a few heart palpitations among its fans watching both in Portland and at various watch parties back in Greenville, as Alex Waggoner won the ball and then sent a looping header straight up in the air but goalward, however, but Luke Munson was positioned behind Horvat at the goal line, and his precise positioning prevented the equalizer, as he headed the Waggoner headed attempt on goal away, but back to the middle. Horvat then dove to punch, however, at the same time a Pilots attacker dove towards the ball, but collided with the Paladin goalkeeper resulting in a foul and on Sebastian Hernandez for Portland, and that effectively ended the match with about 30 seconds remaining.
Statistically speaking, the Pilots held a 17-11 advantage in total shots and a 9-3 edge in shots on goal. For Horvat, who was the SoCon's Goalkeeper of the Year, it was
As the final time ran off the clock, Furman's team bench erupted in celebration for what was an unbelievable night for both Allison and Furman's athletics program as a whole. The win secured a first-ever college cup appearance and is one of the greatest athletic achievements in the history of Furman athletics.
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