Two hat-tricks end senior day with an 8-0 win over Eureka

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University men's soccer celebrated senior day in grand fashion this weekend, defeating Eureka College 8-0 while paying homage to Devin Arand, Alex Platipodis and Nathan Spiess before the game.

Fontbonne's Alex Phillips scored the game-winner in the 12th minute after dribbling up the sideline to beat his defender and placing the ball in the lower right corner. Phillips scored a little over six minutes later when Corey Schmidt fed Matt Key the ball up the midfield where Key one-touched before Phillips again netted the ball in the right corner. Phillips recorded a hat-trick on the day when he scored Fontbonne's first goal of the second half on a long-ball pass from Spiess. The senior footed the ball from the opposite 30 yard line when Phillips picked it up near the endzone and slipped it past the Eureka goalkeeper.

Spiess had a big senior day with one goal and three assists. He was part of four consecutive goals in the middle of the game, scoring the third goal, his first of the season, and assisting the last two Griffin goals of the first half, both on goals scored by sophomore forward Ryan Dudley who also earned a hat-trick in the Griffins final home game of 2015.

Kameron Thomas assisted twice in the game, one a header directed to Dudley from a pass sent in by Spiess and another one to Dudley from the baseline in the second half. Freshman Jared Edler scored his first collegiate goal to end Griffin scoring in the 80th minute on a through pass from fellow freshman Matt Rapisardo. Edler's hard shot hit the bottom of the lower right frame and zipped back out of the goal right away, causing some confusion.

Eureka goalkeeper Daniel Johnson saved ten for the Red Devils who are 6-10 overall and 1-6 in the SLIAC. Fontbonne improved to over .500 in conference play with the win, taking their SLIAC record to 4-3 while moving to 7-10 overall. On the day, the Griffins recorded 42 shots while allowing just seven from Eureka. The Griffins also held a 7-2 corner-kick advantage. Jordan Alberici earned the win with one save in the first half while Tony Pitaro saved four shots in the second half for Fontbonne.

The Griffins are still in the hunt for a final spot in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament. Fontbonne's next matchup at Principia is a doosey, as they must win out the season to be a threat. The Griffins play at Principia at 6pm on Thursday, October 29th.