With a loss potentially knocking them out of a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament berth, the Webster University men's soccer team took care of business with a 4-0 win over Blackburn College (IL) on October 27 at the Soccer Park.  Scoreless after dominating play for most of the first half, the Gorloks broke through on an Austin Pierce goal at 41:00 on their way to victory.

Webster entered the game at 4-3 and in fourth in the SLIAC, and Blackburn came in at 3-3-1 in fifth.  A Beaver win would have slid them into the fourth and final tournament berth by a half game with each team having one conference game remaining.  But the Gorloks instead nailed down the berth with the win.

Pierce (SR, O'Fallon, MO/Francis Howell Central) corralled a cross by Dino Music (JR, St. Louis, MO/Mehlville) and scored his first goal of the season, as the Gorloks took a 1-0 halftime lead.  Webster outshot Blackburn, 12-2, in the first half.

Alex Whalen (JR, St. Louis, MO/Parkway Central) directed a throw-in by Drew Quisenberry (SO, Morton, IL/Morton) into the net to give the Gorloks a 2-0 lead at 49:58 in the second.  It was his team-leading fifth goal of the year.  Just over a minute later, the Beavers were called for a penalty in the box and Brendan Shields (SR, St. Peters, MO/Ft. Zumwalt East) buried the shot for a 3-0 advantage.

Emilio Mattingly (FR, Perryville, MO/Perryville) finished the Webster scoring with his first collegiate goal with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

Kyle Hertel (FR, Sandpoint, ID/Sandpoint) started in goal for Webster and had 74 minutes of shutout play before being relieved by senior Zach Horn (Godfrey, IL/Marquette Catholic), who finished up the shutout.  Hertel improved to 4-5 and has a 1.42 goals against average on the season. 

Webster is 5-3 in the SLIAC and 7-9 overall.  The Gorloks will play in the semi-finals of the SLIAC Tournament on November 3, heading to Louisville, KY, to face number one seed Spalding University.  Webster lost in overtime to the Golden Eagles, 1-0, earlier this week at the Soccer Park.  The winner of that contest will play the Fontbonne/Westminster College winner on November 5, with the highest seed remaining hosting.