FENTON, Mo. - In a match-up between the top two teams in men's soccer in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference here Thursday evening, Webster University couldn't recover from a two goal first half by Spalding en route to suffering a hard-fought 2-1 loss to the Golden Eagles at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

Entering Thursday's match, Spalding and Webster were the only two remaining teams in the league without a loss as Spalding was 4-0-1 and Webster was 3-0-1 in SLIAC play. 

With the loss, Webster fell to 11-3-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the SLIAC, while Spalding improved to 12-2-1 overall and 5-0-1 in the league.

Trailing 2-0 at the half, Webster would begin to find a groove on offense as after being held to four shots in the first half, the Gorloks took 14 shots in the second half, including putting eight of those shots on goal against the Golden Eagles. WU outshot Spalding, 14-7 after halftime and also for the game, 18-11. 

In the 58th minute, WU freshman midfielder Justin Kohler (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) put a shot on goal that was saved by Spalding goalkeepr Trevor Massa and in the 61st minute, junior defender Justin Schmidt (St. Louis, Mo./Metro) had his header shot saved by Massa to keep the Gorloks scoreless. 

Junior midfielder Edin Mehmedovic (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) missed shot high in the 66th minute, before freshman forward Aamahn Murvin (Sahuarita, Ariz./Walden Grove) took a pass from sophomore midfielder Joacquin Soto (Flagstaff, Ariz./Flagstaff) on the left side and connected from eight yards out to score Webster's first goal and also tally his team-leading seventh goal of the season. 

In the final 10 minutes of the match, Webster would have four shots to tie the match, including a shot by Soto in the 85th minute that looked to be heading into the goal, before it went left to keep the score 2-1 in Spalding's favor.

After both teams were feeling their way through the match in the first 35 minutes of action, Spalding would score the first goal of the match in the 35th minute as Asher Benge took a pass from Kornell Hilliard and connected on a shot from eight yards out. The goal was the first of the season for Benge. 

About six minutes later, Joseph Zamora took a pass from Kono Tenko and connected on a shot from four yards out to give Spalding a 2-0 lead. 

The two goals scored by Spalding on Thursday were the first goals Webster had allowed in SLIAC play this season as they entered the match having not allowed in goal in its first four league matches. In addition, it was just the sixth and seventh goals of the season allowed by Webster. 

Kohler and Murvin each led the way for Webster with four shots, while Soto had three shots, including two shots on goal and freshman midfielder Isaac Pearson (St. Louis, Mo./Maplewood) had two shots in the loss.

The Gorloks defense held Hilliard without a goal on the night as Hilliard entered the match having scored 17 goals this season, which was tied for second-most in the NCAA Division III this season.  

Jacob Bass took three of his team's 11 shots, while Zamora, Abnel St. Fleur and Hilliard each took two shots in the win. 

Freshman Matt Coffey (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) earned the start in net for the Gorloks and along with allowing two goals, he also had four saves in playing all 90 minutes. Coffey is now 2-1-0 on the season.

Massa (6-0-0) earned the win in net for Spalding as he allowed just that one goal and recorded 10 saves. 

Webster will look to rebound as they travel to Eureka, Ill., for a 3 p.m. SLIAC match on Saturday, Oct. 20 at Eureka College.