FENTON, Mo. - Webster University took home its first regular season St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season title since 2014 here Saturday afternoon following its 10-0 shutout victory over Eureka College on Senior Day at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.
Prior to Saturday's match, the Gorloks honored its five graduating seniors in a prematch ceremony and this year's graduating seniors are goalkeeper
Matt Amick (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh), forward
Matt Ceriotti (St. Louis, Mo./SLUH), defender
Dylan Jannin (Perryville, Mo./Perryville), defender
Cameron Killian (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) and midfielder
Logan Takizawa (Holualoa, Hawai'i/Konawaena).
With the victory, Webster extends its win streak to five consecutive matches and improved its record to 9-1-1 overall and 7-1-1 in the SLIAC, while Eureka falls to 0-9 overall and 0-9 in the league. In addition to earning its fifth straight, the Gorloks also won the school's eighth regular season SLIAC championship and first since winning the final of its three consecutive regular season titles in 2014.
"These seniors have been working really hard and we've had good seasons the last four or five years, but we've come up a little short. The guys coming back and the new players we added, we kind of knew in the fall that is was a different feel and they've worked really, really hard. It is a really good group, probably one of the best we've ever had from the seniors all the way down to the freshmen," Webster head coach
Mike Siener said following the match. "I am just proud of the guys. We've been close so many times the last four or five years, we've been good and this year it was nice to finally get over that hump."
The 10 goals were the most scored by the Gorloks in a match since scoring 10 goals in a 10-0 win on Oct. 23, 2019 at Blackburn College. The 10 goals are tied for the fifth most in a match in school history.
Along with scoring 10 goals, the Gorloks also recorded its seventh shutout of the season with Amick posting his third shutout in goal on the year and tying a school record for career shutouts with 18.1. Amick is now tied with former Gorlok and SLIAC Hall of Famer Jeff Reis, who recorded 18.1 shutouts from 1998-99.
For the match, Webster held a 56-1 edge in shots and had a 25-0 edge in shots on goal. Webster took 24 shots in the first half and 32 shots in the second half. The 56 shots set a new school record for shots in a match as it bettered the old school mark of 53 set at Eureka on Oct. 13, 2012.
In the match, 10 different Gorloks scored a goal and 22 different Gorloks took a shot in the match, including Killian taking a career-high and school record tying 10 shots, including putting three shots on goal. While 10 different Gorloks scored in the match, two Gorloks, freshmen midfielders
Mark Moore (Hillsboro, Mo./Hillsboro) and
Guillermo Soto (Flagstaff, Ariz./Flagstaff) each had two assists in the win.
While the 10 goals are tied for fifth most in school history, the nine assists are tied for sixth most in a match in school history.
Moore led Webster with three points as along with a goal, he also had two assists, while Ceriotti, junior forward
Aamahn Murvin (Sahuarita, Ariz./Walden Grove) and freshman midfielder
Carlos Llamas (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) each had a goal and an assist for three points.
Webster got the scoring started in the opening two-plus minutes as sophomore forward
Jarret Gabriele (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) took a pass from Ceriotti and found the bottom left corner of the goal from four yards out. The goal was the fifth of the season for Gabriele and the five goals are second most on the team.
Murvin would score his team leading eighth goal with one second left in the 13th minute to give the Gorloks a 2-0 lead. Murvin's goal, which was unassisted, was shot from 20 yards out.
Moore would score his goal in the 30th minute off an assist from Llamas to give Webster a 3-0 lead. Moore's shot went right over the goalie's head from six yards out.
Freshman midfielder
Noah Abraham (Hazelwood, Mo./Hazelwood West) gave the Gorloks a 4-0 lead as he took a touch pass from Moore and connected from the bottom right corner of the goal.
About two minutes later, Llamas got into the scoring action as he took a pass from Soto and scored from right in front of the goal to give Webster a 5-0 lead.
Freshman midfielder
James Carr (New Bern, N.C./New Bern) scored a goal with 24 seconds left in the first half to give the Gorloks a 6-0 halftime lead. Carr's shot came off an assist from sophomore midfielder
Colby Kapp (Quincy, Ill./Quincy Notre Dame).
Less than three minutes into the second half, Ceriotti scored his first goal of the season as he took a pass from Murvin and found the bottom left corner of the net from nine yards out. Ceriotti's goal gave WU a 7-0 lead in the match.
About a minute later, Takizawa got into the scoring action as he took a pass from Killian and connected from 13 yards out to give the Gorloks an 8-0 lead.
In the 69th minute, Jannin would add a goal as he took a pass from Moore and scored from 10 yards out to make the score 9-0.
Another freshman, forward/midfielder
Armin Jusufovic (St. Louis, Mo./Bayless) would score Webster's final goal as he took a pass from Soto and connected from 13 yards out in the 82nd minute. The goal by Jusufovic was his second of the season.
Along with Killian's 10 shots, Jusufovic, Jannin, Takizawa, Murvin and junior midfielder
Isaac Pearson (St. Louis, Mo./Maplewood-Richmond Heights) each took four shots in the win, while Llamas and Carr added three shots.
Eureka's lone shot came from Diego Cintora just 32 seconds into the second half as his shot was blocked.
Bryer Beadles (0-8-0) took the loss in goal for Eureka as he allowed 10 goals and made 14 saves in the loss.
Webster also finished with an 18-0 edge in corner kicks as Webster had eight corner kicks in the first half and 10 in the second half.
The Gorloks, who are the No. 1 seed in next week's SLIAC Tournament after winning the regular season title, will open play in the SLIAC Tournament on Tuesday, April 20 in the quarterfinals as they will face the winner of Monday's play-in game between No. 8 seed Principia and No. 9 seed Eureka. Every match Webster plays in the SLIAC Tournament will be held at World Wide Technology Soccer Park.
