Crawfordsville IN – The Alma College Men's Soccer team competed in the 2024 Robbie Dreher Classic tournament over the weekend, playing two hard-fought games. After falling short in their first game to hosts, Wabash College, Alma bounced back to secure a well-earned victory versus Monmouth College (IL) in their second match of the weekend.

Wabash 3, Alma 1
In Alma's opening game, the Wabash Little Giants started strong in the opening 5 minutes, taking two shots and converting both to put the Scots down 2-0. After the first 5 minutes, the Scots remained defensively sound and protected their net. Things held steady until the Little Giants scored their third goal of the game in the 68th minute. The Scots strong defensive shape and pressing created 2 great chances for them to minimize the host's lead, but the Wabash goalkeeper stifled the opportunities, making two good saves. In the 73rd minute, Christian Sewis played JJ Riggsby through on the wing. Riggsby's cross was blocked by a defender's hand resulting in a penalty kick. Riggsby wrongfooted the keeper, placing the penalty kick in the bottom left corner. The goal marks Riggsby's first career goal as a Scot. In the end, Alma was unable to complete the comeback, falling 3-1.
 
Alma 2, Monmouth 1
In their second game in as many days, Alma showed resilience, bouncing back from Saturday's loss. The Scots played an aggressive and gritty match, resulting in a 2-1 win and an exciting contest.
Alma's first goal came in the 12th minute when Ethan Vollstedt calmly found the back corner of the net. The goal came from a great sequence of play where the Scots circulated the ball across their back line and to the far side winger. Fletcher VanHowe played Mateo Cianci through and Cianci crossed a dangerous ball across the goal for Vollstedt to tap in. Alma continued to create dangerous chances, forcing the Monmouth goalkeeper to make saves. After fresh legs were brought into the game, The Scots netted the eventual game winning goal in the 41st minute. Tristan Salazar took a free kick and found Toby Stauffer inside of the box. Stauffer then slid for the ball, passing it to Christian Sweis, who smashed the ball into the back of the net. This marks Sweis' first goal and Stauffer and Salazar's first assist of the 2024 campaign.
In the second half, the Scots continued to create quality shots and chances, forcing the Monmouth goalkeeper to make 3 saves. Alma had 2 big chances that both narrowly missed the net. After Monmouth scored in the 65th minute against the run of play, Alma remained defensively sound until the game ended. Grant Kaifas earned his first career win between the posts as a Scot, where he made 4 saves.

Alma boosts their record to 2-2-0 and are back in action on September 11th, as they travel to Defiance College.