Saint Louis University men’s soccer coach Bob Warming made a note to himself at last night’s game against the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos: Don’t schedule a game during midterm week against an intrastate rival who’s looking for respect.
The Kangaroos gave the Billikens fits all night, eventually forcing the contest into overtime. But Jason Mims rescued the Bills from a possible debacle by netting the game-winning goal almost five minutes into the first overtime.
The goal gave SLU a 2-1 win in a nonconference match at the Billiken Sports Center on Wednesday night. With the win, SLU boosted its record to 11-1-1.
“No more games during midterms,” said Warming. “It’s too much to ask of our guys. On the other side of it, it’s so important to have tough games. All five games to the National Championship are like that.”
Marty Tappel earned the lone assist on Mims’ goal, but it was Jason Cole who ultimately set up the play. UMKC goalkeeper Beau Williams fired a goal kick to the left side of midfield.
Cole waited under the ball and calmly placed a headball onto the foot of Tappel. Tappel raced down the left sideline past one defender and into open space.
Two Kangaroo defenders converged on him, but he managed to slide the ball between them to Mims. Mims turned and flew through the penalty area past another UMKC defender. Williams came out to cut the angle, but Mims placed the ball to the far right post, just out of the reach of the keeper.
UMKC came out strong in the first half, disabling the Bills’ offense while tearing holes through SLU’s defense.
UMKC clogged the middle of the field, not allowing SLU to get the ball to the central forward position for offensive opportunities. At the same time, the `Roos often counterattacked, sending the ball to the center of the field and then having the defenders make runs down the right and left flanks against the sweeper defense of the Billikens.
The Kangaroos’ efforts were rewarded in the 33rd minute. UMKC drew a corner kick on the right side. Eric Parrish flighted a ball to the near post where Erik Kuster skied above the crowd and headed in the game’s first goal. Besides the 1-0 loss to Creighton in the final seconds, it was the first time that SLU had fallen behind in a game this season.
“They did a great job in the first half against us,” Warming said. “They came out with a great game plan in the first half.”
But Warming made drastic adjustments in the second half. He sent defender Tim Tedoni into the game to start the half, enabling the Bills to switch their defense back to the flat back four. They had been playing the sweeper system for over a month. Warming also placed Jeff DiMaria at the central forward position, which allowed the Bills to maintain more possession of the ball.
“We went back to the flat back four,” Warming said. “We made everything very compact. It took the defensive responsibilities off DiMaria and Marty (Tappel).
The changes proved their affected things immediately. SLU kept pressure on UMKC early in the second half without letting the `Roos out of their own end.
SLU drew level terms in the 58th minute on a goal from Tappel. Mims fed the ball from the left corner to DiMaria at the corner of the penalty box.
DiMaria looked up and saw Tappel shrieking through the midfield toward the goal. Tappel received the pass and then danced past two UMKC defenders.
He cracked a shot from 12 yards into the left corner of the net past a diving Williams.
DiMaria single-handedly kept up the pressure late in the game. With 12 minutes to play, he hit the crossbar, and with about nine minutes to go, he hit the post.
Meanwhile, the SLU defense held the Kangaroos to one shot in the half.
“In the second half, we controlled the ball and got good chances,” DiMaria said. “It took a goal against us to spark us, but this team showed a lot of character.”
SLU faces UNC-Charlotte this weekend in Charlotte on Sunday at 2 p.m. UNCC is in last place in Conference USA but has traditionally been a strong soccer program.
SLU stands at 4-0-0 in C-USA with four more conference games to play. The Bills are one half game up on UAB.
