Four Different Griffins Score In Victory Against Franklin

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind.—The Fontbonne University men's soccer team got over the .500 mark on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over Franklin.

"Playing with a lead can be tricky at times," said head coach Donnie Alberty. "I felt like we started out well, but then we didn't keep up the intensity we needed after (Nick) Wolf scored the first goal. We have to be happy with the fact that (Nick) Nelson was able to score off a corner kick and then (Blake) Smugala made a play to push it to 3-0. You have to give a lot of credit to Franklin because they didn't quit."

He continued, "If anything, they began playing with a higher intensity level and we didn't match it as well as we could have. After they scored, we settled in a little bit, but this never really felt like a three-goal match. We also could have done a little bit better closing the match out, though we will work on that in training. All in all, it was a pretty solid effort. Now we have to recover and turn around quickly to get ready for Wabash. They beat us 3-0 last year, so we know they're going to be tough."

The Griffins (2-1), totaled 18 shots in the win and got goals from Nick Wolf, Nick Nelson, Blake Smugala and Brendan Kopff. In goal, Eric Volk earned his second win after making three saves.

The Grizzlies (0-3), meanwhile, totaled 11 shots, including seven in the second half. The team got its lone goal from Cody Coppess, while Jake Hendricks took the loss in net as he made three saves.

In the first half, the Griffins were aggressive early with a 3-0 shot advantage in the first five minutes and 30 seconds. Then, Zack Lyeki found Wolf for his first goal of the season at the 7:19 mark.

That score remained the same until 28:13 when Nelson netted his first of the year as well, extending the lead out to 2-0. Prior to the half ending, the Griffins pushed the advantage to 3-0 on Smugala's second goal on the season at 42:02.

In the second frame, the Grizzlies turned the table and scored within the first four minutes on a goal from Coppess. That'd be as close as they'd get as Kopff also got on the board in the 89^th minute to make it a 4-1 final.

The Griffins are back at it tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m., against Wabash.

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