Women' soccer earns first-ever SLIAC title

The Fontbonne University women's soccer team defeated MacMurray College yesterday 3-0 to earn a share of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) regular season championship. This is the first time in school history the Griffins have won a SLIAC title in women's soccer. Fontbonne shares the SLIAC championship with Principia College and Webster University. The Griffins improved to 10-8 overall and 7-1 in the SLIAC.

Fontbonne will now move onto the SLIAC Tournament where they have earned the #2 seed. This is the fifth straight year Fontbonne has qualified for the SLIAC Tournament. The Griffins will host #3 seed Webster University on Wednesday at 1:30 pm at Centene Stadium. The winner of that game will play the winner of the other semifinal will feature #1 seed Principia College against #4 seed Greenville College. The SLIAC Tournament game will be on Friday at location and time to be determined. The winner of the SLIAC Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Div. III National Tournament.

Yesterday, the Griffins got on the scoreboard early as senior Kim Carter scored just two minutes into the game to give Fontbonne a 1-0 lead. Junior Kelly Lange tallied the assist on the Carter goal. Despite numerous opportunities, Fontbonne couldn't extend its lead in the first half. Fontbonne outshot MacMurray 20-0 in the opening 45 minutes but took just a 1-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Fontbonne utilized a pair of corner kicks to secure its victory. In the 71st minute, Lange headed home her first goal of the day to double Fontbonne's lead to 2-0. Just six minutes later, senior Julia Conroy found the back of the net to give the Griffins a 3-0 lead. Freshman Paige Pfankuch earned the assist on both of Fontbonne's second half goals.

Fontbonne earned its second straight shutout and now has given up just one goal in its last seven games. Prior to the game, Fontbonne honor seniors Kim Carter, Julia Conroy, Anna Hotop, Kaniz Abbas and Jeanette Pfeifer.