After a 1-0 loss to Fontbonne University in overtime on Tuesday, Oct. 23, the Webster University women’s soccer team needed a win. The Gorloks were depending on the game later that week at Greenville College (Ill.) on Saturday, Oct. 27 to have at least a share of first place in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Webster took down Greenville 2-0 at Saturday’s game in Greenville, Ill.
After the loss to Fontbonne, the team was motivated to win. The Gorloks still had goals to achieve and unfinished business to take care of.
Sophomore goalie Jessica Davis said the team wanted to get back on the winning side and improve its weaknesses at practices.
“The two practices we had after the Fontbonne game really put (it) into perspective — that we can still be first in conference and we can still achieve our goals by winning the conference tournament and (advancing) into the national tournament,” Davis said. “We had the day off after the Fontbonne game. We came out really strong on that Thursday and Friday, and worked really hard on what we needed to improve from the Fontbonne game.”
With no goals in the first half, the Gorloks came out firing to start the second half. Four minutes in, junior midfielder Freddie Brandt scored on a 35-yard kick to put the Gorloks up 1-0. It was Brandt’s first career goal as a Gorlok.
Twenty minutes later, sophomore forward Kristin Montgomery scored her 12th goal of the season to put the Gorloks on top 2-0. The Gorloks outshot the Panthers 13-4 in the game. Davis recorded her 12th shutout of the season, tying the Webster record with current assistant coach Jessica Kozeny.
Davis said the loss to Fontbonne got the team fired up for the Greenville game.
“From what happened last year, we knew Greenville was going to be a tough game and that we wanted to get back at them,” Davis said. “Just having that motivation really helped us come out with a victory.”
Coach Luigi Scire was proud of his team and how it bounced back in a positive way to finish off the regular season.
“The girls played with a lot of passion,” Scire said. “They knew what was at stake prior to the game and they came out ready to play.”
The win placed Webster in a three-way tie with Principia College and Fontbonne for first place. On Friday, Oct. 26, SLIAC Commissioner Will Wolper held a conference call with the coaches of the three tied teams. A coin-flip competition resulted in Principia clinching the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the SLIAC tournament. Fontbonne earned the No. 2 seed by virtue of its Oct. 23 win over the Gorloks.
Webster and Fontbonne will play each other for the second time in eight days — this time, there is more than moving up in the conference standings at stake. The Gorloks know what they have to do in order to pull out a victory, and that is to finish opportunities on the offensive side. The Gorloks had opportunities the last time they took on the Griffins, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Davis said the team is ready for the rematch and is looking forward to Wednesday afternoon.
“It just comes down to who wants it more,” Davis said. “Both teams are pretty evenly matched. I think we had better chances when we played them the first time — we just couldn’t capitalize on goal opportunities.
“We’ll definitely have to work on those, but it really matters who wants it more. I feel we do after losing to them in the regular season; this is our time to show them that we are the better team.”
The first round of the SLIAC tournament is Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 1:30 p.m. at Gay Field in Clayton. If the Gorloks win, they will either play at Principia at 7 p.m. or host Greenville at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2.
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