Men’s Soccer Wins Third Consecutive
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Fontbonne University men's soccer team won their third straight game in today's come-from-behind fashion win over SLIAC opponent, Spalding University, 3-2. The team improves to 4-4-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
"What an exciting match to cap a pretty good week for us, shared Head Coach Donnie Alberty. "I have to hand it to Spalding. They are always well coached and tough to play against."
Spalding got on board first scoring a goal in the 11th minute of the game.
Fontbonne was unable to tie the game in the first half. The Griffins went into halftime trailing the Eagles, 1-0.
Two minutes into the second period, Joe Noah found Tim Jurado's foot who scored and tied the game 1-1.
"They scored that first goal, and we didn't really find our way in the first half. I thought we came out in the second and settled in a little more. We got a little bit of a lucky break on the first goal when the shot kind of bounced onto Timmy's foot. It was a calm finish by him though. We found a little energy after that," said Alberty.
Less than 10 minutes later, Nick Mormino found the back of the net assisted by Julian Tilford, and the Griffins took the lead of the game.
The Eagles, however, answered with a goal to tie the score once again, 2-2.
Coach Alberty was very pleased with Mormino's goal.
He said, "A little while later we were able to get Nick Mormino in behind, which we should be able to do a little more often, and he scored to make up for a chance he should have converted in the first half. We felt pretty good, but we didn't deal well with a cleared ball with about 10 minutes to go and teams like Spalding with quality front runners are going to punish you for that."
With the clock hitting the 87th minute mark, Julian Tilford scored one of his own assisted by Tim Jurado for the Griffins to take a 3-2 win.
"I have to give credit to our guys though, they didn't just settle for the tie and the game-winner was one of the best goals I have ever seen. The best part is we had 5 guys (Ian, Ryan, Brandon, Timmy and Julian) all make winning plays to get the goal. Total team effort today and really could not be prouder of the guys," commented Alberty.
Dominic Haggard played 90 minutes in between posts and recorded six saves.
The Griffins had 15 shots with 10 coming in the first half.
"We are in a good spot, but every match in the SLIAC is tough and we have to start looking forward to Lyon next Wednesday," concluded Alberty.
Up Next
The Griffins travel next to Lyon College for another SLIAC contest on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.