Griffins Dealt Tough Shutout Defeat Against Gorloks

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—It was a battle throughout the night between the Webster University Gorloks and Fontbonne University men's soccer teams, however, it was Webster coming away with a 1-0 win.

Fontbonne (6-4-1; 1-1 SLIAC), outshot the Gorloks 13-11 in the outing. Nick Wolf led with a team-high five shots, while David Keeven and Brendan Kopff contributed two shots each. In goal, Tony Pitaro was dealt the tough loss after making five saves.

On the other side of the pitch, Webster (5-4-1; 1-0-1), got its lone goal off the foot of Dino Music. In net, Kyle Hertel came away with five saves.

It was back-and-forth play early in the first half but the Griffins spent a better part of it on the Gorloks defensive side. In the 11^th minute, Wolf had a chance for goal but Hertel came away with the save.

Later in the half, it was Webster starting to get its offense going with shot attempts in both the 22^nd and 25^th minutes, but like Hertel, Pitaro was there to come up with the save and keep it scoreless.

Fontbonne went on to have a shot advantage of 8-5 through the first 45:00 minutes of play but neither team found twine so it was 0-0 at the break.

The pace and intensity of the game really picked up in the second half. Webster opened up with a 4-1 shot advantage in the first eight minutes.

Each team continued to have its chances for goal but all attempts came up empty. That all changed in the 77^th minute. A foul was called on Fontbonne and a free kick was awarded to Webster.

Music stepped into it from 30 yards out and beat Pitaro into the far left post, giving the Gorloks a 1-0 lead. Down by a goal, FBU got its offense back going three minutes later as Brendan Kopff looked to score the equalizer, but Hertel collected another save.

One of the best chances for FBU came with less than three minutes on the clock. A pass was forwarded up to Wolf and he had a chance for goal, however, his shot went just wide right of the net. That'd be the teams' last attempt as the Gorloks held on for the win.

The Griffins return to action on the road this Saturday as they'll pay a visit to Iowa Wesleyan for another tough conference showdown. Kick-off is set 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.