Men's soccer drops SLIAC semifinal to Webster

Published: April 13, 2021

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GREENVILLE, Ill. -- The men's soccer team was defeated 4-2 by Webster Wednesday night in the semifinal round of the SLIAC tournament. The Panthers were led by goals from Josh Ripperger and Chad Juneau which gave Greenville 1-0 and 2-1 leads, respectively.

Edgar Bueno notched assists on both goals.

Greenville outshot Webster by a 13-11 margin, and Ian Hodge stopped four of the eight Webster shots on goal.

Juneau topped all players with four shots. Ripperger posted three shots.

Greenville's goal by Ripperger in the ninth minute held up until the second half.

Webster answered with a goal in the 51st minute, and Juneau answered Webster's strike in the 65th minute.

Webster scored in the games 69th, 83rd, and 89th minutes for the win.

"I am so proud of these guys," said head coach Chris Swift. "We fought hard and gave ourselves a great chance. It's a shame we couldn't hold our leads."

"We played really well in the first half and were well worth our halftime lead. We were probably unfortunate to only be up 1."

"In the second half, Webster responded well to the long fog break and scored early. I thought we handled that setback and got ourselves back in front, but Webster never gave up, and kept coming."

"When we get a little distance from this, we are going to look back on a great season. We have laid the foundations for a solid future and I am really excited for where we are going. We consistently started seven freshmen throughout the year, and we accomplished some great things. The sky is the limit for this group as they grow together."

The Panthers ended the season with a record of 10-10, including a 7-2 second place mark in SLIAC play. Greenville returned to the conference tournament after missing the event in the 2014 season.