It’s not winter yet, but the Saint Louis University men’s soccer team’s scoring attack has gone into near hibernation: 295 scoreless minutes, covering a span of almost three straight games.
Brad Davis’ goal in the 86th minute on Tuesday at Marquette, which helped the Billikens prevail 1-0, ended SLU’s scoreless streak. In the past week, SLU played to a 0-0 overtime tie against Cincinnati and lost 2-0 to Charlotte. It was the first time the Billikens have been shut-out in back-to-back regular season games since the 1985 season.
Why the scoring funk?
“There’s a lack of effort in the (penalty) box,” said SLU coach Bob Warming. “We’ve emphasized near-post runs in the box, and nobody’s done that.”
Sophomore Jackie Jewsbury (23 points on nine goals and five assists) and freshman Brad Davis (20 points on eight goals and four assists) dictate SLU’s offensive attack, and both will be counted on in the stretch run.
Tuesday against Marquette, Warming moved Davis up from his normal midfield position to play alongside Jewsbury at forward. Warming also brought junior Marty Tappel up from his defensive position to control the central midfield. Both moves paid dividends.
With four minutes remaining in regulation, Tappel beat two defenders on the left side, accelerated through the midfield and sent a ball to Jewsbury on the left side of the penalty box. Jewsbury cut back and perfectly placed a cross to the far post, where Davis headed it past MU’s goalie to secure the win. With Davis at forward, SLU’s offense gets a boost.
“I think it can create a lot more scoring opportunities,” said Jewsbury. “We combine well together.”
The defense has meshed well the whole season, allowing a league-low 11 goals. Until Charlotte notched two against the Bills, SLU held eight straight opponents to one goal or less. Joe Hammes and Tim Sartori have been stalwarts in the back all season long, while Jason Cole has now returned from forward and Mike Hill provides stability from the defensive center midfield.
“We need to keep doing what we’re doing, and our team needs our defense to step it up,” said Hammes.
Junior goalkeeper John Politis has stepped it up, along with senior Paul Nagy, to give the Bills one of the best goal keeping tandems in the country.
Politis, in particular, has been phenomenal as of late. He has five consecutive shutouts that have lowered his goals against average to a remarkable .26 goals per game.
After James Madison scored in the 87th minute on Sept. 15, Politis has had shutouts against DePaul, UAB, St. John’s, Cincinnati and Marquette.
What’s more impressive is that he’s held St. John’s and Cincinnati scoreless in overtime. Overall, he has held opposing teams without a goal for an amazing 503 straight minutes.
With stability like that in goal, SLU has high hopes for the post-season. The winner of the regular season gets to host the conference tournament, and right now SLU controls its own destiny.
With two road games to play at Memphis and South Florida, the Billikens are 4-1-1 in C-USA. If they win out, the C-USA tournament will be held at Robert R. Hermann Stadium between Nov. 9th-12th.
Right behind SLU is UAB, who is 3-1-2 and has yet to play Cincinnati, Marquette and Louisville. SLU beat UAB 1-0 on Sept. 30, giving them the head-to-head advantage.
Therefore, the only way UAB would host the C-USA tournament for the second consecutive year would be for them to win all three of their games and for SLU to lose one out of two.
Memphis actually has the best chance to unseat SLU and win the league title. The Tigers are 5-2-0 in C-USA and SLU completes Memphis’ conference schedule when the two meet this Saturday in Tennessee.
If Memphis defeats SLU, they automatically will win the league title and host the tournament.
Charlotte is the only other team that has a chance to win the league. The 49ers are 5-2-1 in conference play. Since Charlotte holds the head-to-head tie breaker against SLU, they will host the C-USA tournament if the Bills lose one of their two last games.
“Not only do we want to bring the tournament back to SLU, but we’d also like to secure an at-large (NCAA) bid,” Jewsbury said.
