WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University used two second half goals and held a 29-8 edge in shots here Saturday afternoon en route to earning a hard-fought 2-0 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer victory over Fontbonne University in the 'Battle of Big Bend' at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

With the victory, Webster snaps a season high three game losing skid and improves its record to 8-5-1 overall and 2-3-0 in the SLIAC, while Fontbonne falls to 2-12-1 overall and 1-4-0 in the league. In addition, the win also keeps Webster's postseason hopes alive as the Gorloks are currently sitting seventh in the league standings with four matches remaining in the regular season. The top four teams in the league at the end of the regular season advance to the SLIAC Tournament.

The 29 shots were the second most recorded this season by the Gorloks and the most since taking 35 shots in a 1-0 home win over Minnesota-Morris in the season opener on Sept. 2. Along with outshooting the Griffins, 29-8, including a 16-3 edge on shots in the second half, WU also held a 12-3 advantage in shots on goal and took seven corner kicks to Fontbonne's four corner kicks. 

After the two teams played to a scoreless draw in the opening 45 minutes of the match, the Gorloks would finally break up the scoreless tie in the 63rd minute as sophomore midfielder Justin Kohler (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) drew a foul inside the goal box and that set up a penalty kick from junior midfielder Hunter Olaso (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii/Kealakehe). Olaso hit the penalty kick that gave the Gorloks a 1-0 lead, which gave Webster its first lead since the Eureka match on Oct. 5. 

In the 78th minute, senior defender Justin Schmidt (St. Louis, Mo./Metro) set a free kick near the net and sophomore midfielder Henok Moges (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) put a header shot into the net to give Webster a 2-0 lead. The header by Moges was his third goal of the season. 

The two goal lead would be more than enough for Webster as they turned the match over its defense and sophomore goalkeeper Matt Coffey (Eureka, Mo./Eureka) as the Gorloks held the Griffins to just one shot over the final 12-plus minutes of the match to seal its fourth home win of the season. 

Webster's defense allowed just eight shots in the match as Fontbonne took only three of those eight shots in the second half. 

Coffey (5-1-1) earned the win in net for the Gorloks as he made three saves in 90 minutes of action to record his third shutout of the season. The shutout win was the fifth of the year for the Gorloks. 

The match got a little heated in the 82nd minute as the officials handed out a total of four cards - two to each team, after FBU's Tyler Scales knocked junior midfielder Logan Takizawa (Holualoa, Hawaii/Konawaena) to the ground. On the play, Scales earned his second yellow card, which became a red card, while Takizawa, Olaso and FBU's Nick Nelson each received yellow cards due to unsportsmanlike action following Scales' play on Takizawa. 

Junior forward Matt Ceriotti (St. Louis, Mo./SLUH) paced Webster's offense with a career high tying four shots, while Takizawa, Kohler, sophomore midfelder Isaac Pearson (St. Louis, Mo./Maplewood-Richmond Heights), senior midfielder Edin Mehmedovic (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) and junior midfielder Joacquin Soto (Flagstaff, Ariz./Flagstaff) each took three shots in the win. For the match, 13 different Gorloks took at least one shot. 

All three of Pearson's shots were on goal, while two of Ceriotti's four shots were on goal for the match. 

Andres Castro took three of FBU's eight shots, while Jacob Reis had two shots in the loss. 

Eric Volk (1-8-0) took the goal for the Griffins as he allowed two goals and recorded 10 saves. 

The Gorloks will look to make its two straight wins this coming Wednesday, Oct. 23 as they travel to Carlinville, Ill., for a 1 p.m. SLIAC match against Blackburn College.