Men's Soccer Bounces Back With A Victory Over MacMurray

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—After a couple of tough losses, the Fontbonne University men's soccer team bounced back with a 4-1 victory over MacMurray on Tuesday night.

Prior to the Kicking Cancer: Breast Cancer Awareness Game, the men's team honorary coach was Tammy Alberty, wife of head coach Donnie Alberty. Tammy was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is currently waging her own battle against the disease. 

"Pretty proud of the guys right now," said head coach Donnie Alberty. "With the adversity that we have faced the past couple of weeks, it would've been very easy for us to use that as an excuse and figure that maybe this just wasn't our year."

He added, "But we came out strong tonight and even kept attacking when we missed a couple of early chances. Right now we still have a chip and a chair, so until someone tells us that we can no longer play, we will keep showing up and trying to figure out how to win soccer matches."

The Griffins (8-9; 5-3 SLIAC), totaled 28 shots in the win and got goals from Blake Smugala (two), Jared Edler, and Marc Roellig. In net, Drew Blair improved to 6-5 after making a save. Emir Hadzisalihovic, meanwhile, made his Griffin debut and made two saves.

On the other side of the pitch, the Highlanders (2-13; 1-6 SLIAC) got its lone goal from Josh Hamlin. In goal, Brantley Estes made nine saves.

In the first, the Griffins were putting the pressure on early. In the seventh minute, Roellig crossed the ball perfectly to Smugala and he headed in his third on the season, giving Fontbonne a 1-0 lead.

Eight minutes later, the Griffins pushed its lead out to 2-0. Andres Castro received a pass Smugala at the top of the box and his initial shot was blocked. However, the loose ball found the foot of Edler and he scored his second in as many games.

In the second half, a foul was called on the Griffins in the 48^th minute. Off a free-kick, Hamlin found the ball inside the scramble in the box and scored to cut the deficit down to 2-1.

That'd be as close as they'd get, though with Fontbonne answering right back 24.0 seconds later. Off another free-kick, Roellig found a cutting Smugala and he headed in his second of the game to make it 3-1.

Roellig added another in the 69^th minute off a perfect free-kick attempt to give the Griffins the three-goal win.

The team closes out its regular season against rival Webster on Saturday as the Griffins look to secure a spot in the SLIAC Tournament. Kick-off at 3 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.

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