Griffins Fly Past Hornets For Its Fifth Win On The Year

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University men's soccer team closed out its non-conference schedule in style with a 2-0 win over Harris-Stowe State on Thursday.

"Both sides played through some tough conditions today, being a non-conference match for both of us," said head coach Donnie Alberty. "We are pleased that we scored the two early goals, but they kept us on our heels after that. I think we were maybe looking ahead to conference play on Saturday."

The Griffins (5-3-1), outshot the Hornets 17-11 on the afternoon. Alex Phillips led them in the shot department with five, while Blake Smugala and Nick Wolf each found the back of the net for FBU. In goal, Jordan Alberici got the win after making two saves.

Harris-Stowe, meanwhile, got strong play out of its goalie John Jacewicz as he finished with eight saves in 68:14 minutes played.

It didn't take long for Fontbonne to get on the board as in the second minute, Wolf passed it off to Smugala and he scored his second of the year to give them a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later, Fontbonne extended its lead out. Alex Phillips played a through ball for Wolf, who went on to beat Jacewicz for his fourth on the season to make it 2-0.

From then on, however, the Hornets picked up the pace outshooting the Griffins 8-2 in the final 34:00 minutes of play, but it was the Griffins heading into the locker room on top by two.

In the second half, after the Griffins had a couple shots, one of HSSU's better chances to score came with 39:00 minutes to go. Justin Donovan had a shot on goal but his shot went off the post.

FBU went on to have a shot advantage of 8-2 the rest of the way and with its defense standing tall, the Griffins went on for the shutout victory.

The team will be back at it on Saturday afternoon in its first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) game against Eureka. Kick-off is slated for 1 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the men's soccer team.