ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Golden Eagles women's soccer team dropped their first conference game of the season, 2-0, to Fontbonne on Saturday afternoon at Centene Stadium. The loss dropped Spalding to 7-4-2 and 4-1-1 in conference play. The win for the Griffins moved them to 7-8-0 and 3-3-0 in SLIAC competition.

In a very defensive game that had a combined 16 shots, the Griffins were able to prevail with the victory. A 19th minute goal off the foot of Ashlynn Reiter on a pass from Natalie Sipole gave the Griffins the 1-0 lead midway through the first half.

Spalding had a chance to equalize in the 44th minute but the Griffin goalkeeper saved a penalty kick by Dee Dee Sliter. Fontbonne took the 1-0 lead into half time.

The second half was a lot like the first in regards to the type of play. The Griffins had four corner kicks and in the 50th minute Paige Pfankuch put a corner in the box and Leann Smith was able to head it into the goal, giving the Griffins the 2-0 lead.

The Golden Eagles had a pair of chances in the 70th minute; the Griffin goalkeeper saved a pair of shots, one by Alnee Tutson and the other by Hannah Freytag.

In the 90th minute, Sliter had a shot go wide in the final chance for the Golden Eagles to get on the board. This was the first time the Golden Eagles have been shutout since a 5-0 loss to Hanover on September 13.

The Golden Eagles will be back on the pitch October 21 against conference leading Webster University at 4:00 EDT at Champions Trace.