By: Vinnie Birk - Blackburn College Sports Information

Although the weather outside was cold on Saturday afternoon, the battle on the field heated up real quickly. The Men's Soccer game against Fontbonne University featured seven cards and two ejections. Blackburn barely got edged by Fontbonne 2-1.

The aggression all started with a Blackburn throw in that was tossed into the box. The Fontbonne keeper went to grab the ball but instead caught hold of a Blackburn player and continued to throw him to the ground. This act stirred up some controversy in the game and started the card fiesta.

Down a man in the second half, Blackburn's Jake Pope (Waggoner, Ill.) ripped a shot over the reach of the Griffin goalkepper and into the back of the net. Pope's fourth goal of the season electrified the whole town of Carlinville. The assists came from Dylan Parkin (Athens, Ill.) and Mikey Stephenson (Raymond, Ill.).

Fontbonne returned the favor a few minutes later with a headed ball that knotted the game at one. More fouls and cards came before Fontbonne scored the dagger with 2:30 left to play. That goal was the winner and gave Blackburn a 2-1 loss. Shane Rogers (Granite City, Ill.) had 10 saves for Blackburn.

Blackburn is now 4-8 on the season and 0-2 in the SLIAC. They will play Greenville College on the road on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.