FENTON, Mo. - Through seven matches and a total of 643 minutes of action this season, Webster's men's soccer team had not allowed a goal, but that shutout streak was snapped in the 13th minute of Wednesday's match against Millikin University at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.
The goal was the first of three Millikin would score in the match en route to posting a 3-1 victory over the Gorloks to snap Webster's school record 18 match streak of not losing a match that had dated to last year's match at Illinois Wesleyan. In addition, it also snapped WU's streak of shutouts at eight which had dated to last year's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament match against Principia.
With the loss, Webster, who is ranked seventh in this week's United Soccer Coaches Central Region poll, fell to 7-1-0 on the season, while Millikin improved to 4-3-0 overall on the year.
Entering Wednesday's match, Webster was one of just three NCAA Division III men's soccer programs that had yet to allow a goal this season as the other two programs were Mount Union and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
Millikin's Trey Knighton put a halt to that shutout streak in the 13th minute as he took a pass from Joseph Caldarazzo and scored from 15 yards out to give the Big Blue a 1-0 lead. it was the first time this season that Webster had trailed in a match.
Knighton's goal was the only score of the first half as the teams combined for 13 shots as Millikin outshot the Gorloks, 7-6 and also held a 4-1 edge in shots on goal.
Trailing 1-0, Webster would tie the match just a little over five minutes into the second half as freshman
Aamahn Murvin (Sahuarita, Ariz./Walden Grove) took a dribble and connected on a shot from 12 yards out for his team-leading fifth goal of the season. The five goals is the most scored goals scored by a Gorlok player in a season since Alex Whalen tallied five goals during the 2016 season.
About two minutes after Murvin's goal tied the match, Millikin's Rudy Mathieson took a pass from Patrick Dolan and connected on shot from nearly 35 yards out to give the Big Blue a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute.
In the 68th and 70th minnutes, the Gorloks had shots by freshman midielder
Cody Ruhl (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) and sophomore midfielder
Joacquin Soto (Flagstaff, Ariz./Flagstaff) but they were both missed as Ruhl's shot was wide right and Soto's was high.
Millikin would get its third goal on a penalty kick in the 83rd minute after Gorlok junior defender
Justin Schmidt (St. Louis, Mo./Metro) drew a foul in the box that led to a penalty kick by Dolan.
In the final five minues of the match, Webster took three shots at the goal, but none of them connected to help seal Millikin's win.
For the match, Millikin outshot Webster, 17-14 and also held a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.
Ruhl led the way for the Gorloks with four shots, while Murvin, Soto and junior midfielder
Edin Mehmedovic (St. Louis, Mo,/Mehlville) each had two shots in the loss.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Matt Amick (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) took the loss in the net as he fell to 6-1-0 overall on the season as in 90 minutes of action, recorded seven saves and allowed three goals.
Dolan and Mathieson each had three shots and combined for five shots on the goal for the Big Blue.
Isaac Hopper (3-1-0) earned the win in net for Millikin as he allowed one goal and had one save in 90 minutes of action.
The Gorloks will look to return to the win column on Saturday, Sept. 22 as they travel to Watertown, Wis., for a 1 p.m. match at Marantha Baptist.
