After the final whistle blew, a sigh of relief was in order for the 4,174 fans who filled Robert R. Hermann stadium last Saturday night.

The Saint Louis University men’s soccer team had shown their mettle in a hard fought 1-0 victory over defending C-USA tournament champions the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

With the win, the Billikens improved to 5-2-l overall and 2-0 in C-USA. UAB, picked second in the C-USA pre-season poll, dropped to 4-3-1, 1-1-1 in conference.

SLU coach Bob Warming said, “This is the most excited I’ve been about a win in a long time. Our team turned the corner in a lot of ways… We had to fight and battle the whole game.”

Warming altered the starting lineup Saturday, starting Jason Cole at forward, while John Politis made his second straight start in goal. Cole was named to Soccer America’s Freshman All-America team last season for his hard-nosed and consistent play in the defense. He last played up top when he scored 30 goals in his senior year of high school.

Two minutes into the match, sophomore Nick Walls nearly connected off a bicycle kick from eight yards out.

That was SLU’s only good scoring opportunity for over 20 minutes. In the 28th minute, SLU started to control the tempo as Cole headed a Brad Davis corner kick over the crossbar.

Four minutes later, SLU nearly scored again.

David Beck played a through pass behind the defense to Cole, whose shot from eight yards out on an angle earned the Billikens another corner kick. In the 33rd minute, senior Brian Hadican entered for Beck and immediately distributed the ball out wide to Andy Pusateri, whose quick cross nearly resulted in SLU’s first tally.

Warming’s squad utilized the speed of the wide midfielders all game long. Walls, Pusateri, Hadican and Vedad Alagic consistently beat their men and played dangerous balls into the penalty box.

Beginning in the 34th minute, SLU began a fury of shots. Davis’ shot earned a corner kick.

Hadican’s nicely driven ball off a corner kick found Cole’s head at the far post, but the ball went high once again.

Five minutes later, Politis had his first real challenge of the half as he came out and cleared the ball at the top of the 18-yard box. One minute later, he came out 12 yards and made a point blank save. The official called the play offside, but he did well getting his hand on the ball.

Politis earned the start against the Blazers due to his 6′ 3″ frame. UAB had three tall forwards, so his size was needed. During the week, Warming brought in Billiken basketball players Chris Heinrich, Chris Braun and Andrew Latimer. Balls were crossed into the penalty box and Politis had get up over the three giants.

In the 41st minute, Pusateri made a nice move down the sideline, beat two defenders and put a low hard cross into the box. Cole found a way to get a foot on the ball, but the ball sailed over the bar. It was SLU’s best chance of the half. Warming noted that Cole and Jackie Jewsbury were a great combination up front.

SLU went into halftime tied, and picked up right where they left off in the second half.

This time, they would convert. In the 49th minute, Jewsbury flicked the ball to Walls who beat a defender at the top of the penalty box. The goalie came out and made a diving foot save on Walls’ shot.

Davis took the rebound and put it away on the near post from 15 yards out for his fifth goal of the season. It all started with Pusateri bringing the ball up from the defense and beating two defenders.

Two minutes later, Davis ripped a left-footed shot from 25 yards out that went over the outstretched hands of the goalie and hit the crossbar.

In the 57th minute, Davis showed he is a threat to score whenever he has the ball, when his rocket from the top of the 18 yard box was deflected by the goalie, resulting in a corner kick.

No more goals would be scored in this hard fought battle between C-USA’s two best team’s. Cole moved back to defense with around 20 minutes left to provide stability. SLU’s defense, though, played well. Marty Tappel, Joe Hammes, Mike Hill and Tim Sartori withheld a potent UAB attack. UAB’s size was especially tough to handle.

“We had to prepare defensively for dead balls because they’re the tallest team we’ve played all year,” said Hammes.

The Billikens face Rutgers on Friday and then meet fourth-ranked St. John’s on Sunday. Their next home game is against Cincinnati on Wednesday Oct. 18th at 7 p.m.