Hermann Stadium, formerly known as The Billiken Sports Complex when there was AstroTurf, has been the site of many big soccer games in its history. The first one that comes to mind is the thrilling 3-2 men’s victory over Indiana University in front of 6517 fans that was the first Billiken soccer game played on the new grass field. Another game is the men’s game against UCLA in the second round of the NCAA playoffs last year, in which the bruising Bruins overpowered Saint Louis University 2-0. And finally there was the regional battle with Southwest Missouri State on Sept. 23, when the Bills and Bears pushed and shoved their way to a 1-1 tie.
If you noticed, all of those matches were men’s soccer games. But women’s soccer fans shouldn’t worry too much about that. After next week, you can be sure to add some women’s contests to that list.
That’s because the Conference USA women’s soccer Tournament is coming to town. SLU hosts the eight-team tourney at Hermann Stadium at the Billiken Sports Center Nov. 1-Nov. 4. The seven matches (four quarterfinal games, two semifinals and the final) will be full of exciting, thrilling and attacking soccer sure to satisfy any soccer nut’s fantasy.
The teams have been set for the field, but the seeding has not. The top four seeds are: No. 1 Marquette, No. 2 SLU, No. 3 Cincinnati and No. 4 Charlotte. The rest of the field consists of: Tulane, Houston, Southern Mississippi and South Florida. Those teams’ seeding depends upon the Tulane-Southern Miss match on this Friday and the Charlotte-South Florida contest on Sunday.
Marquette won the tournament title last season, defeating Charlotte. Marquette would appear to be the favorite heading into the tourney. The Golden Eagles breezed through the C-USA regular season this year, going 9-0-1. The only blemish was a 0-0 tie with SLU. Kate Gordon paces Marquette. She has tallied nine goals and five assists. In goal, Mo Bothwell is one of the top goalkeepers in the league, posting six shutouts.
But the Golden Eagles don’t have history on their side. Since C-USA began play in 1995, no team that has won the regular season title has won the tournament championship.
Saint Louis poses a big threat to Marquette. First of all, the Billikens are hosting the tourney. The Bills are 15-2-1 at Hermann Stadium in two years of play on the new turf. On top of that, the Billikens have averaged over 1,042 fans this season, tops in the league. And SLU has C-USA’s top keeper in Meghan Burke. She leads the league in shutouts with 10 and in goals against average with a 0.68.
But the Billikens had trouble last year in the postseason, falling to No. 8-seeded Southern Miss 2-1 in the first round.
The Cincinnati Bearcats also could wreak havoc in the tournament. The Bearcats are rolling, having won six straight matches. Top scorer Kim Jedlo (8G, 2A) has been bothered by a knee injury but will play in the tourney. Tiffany Ogden also is a weapon for the Bearcats, netting six goals while adding two assists.
If the Bearcats make it to the semifinals and beyond, they will probably face SLU in the semifinals and Marquette in the finals. Those are two teams that Cincinnati had difficulty with this year, losing to Marquette 5-2 and SLU 4-0.
Charlotte is relying on its backup freshman goalkeeper to guide the 49ers to the title. Andrea Kollmorgen is relieving Jen Howell, who went down with a knee injury a couple weeks ago. Howell is a more aggressive keeper, which allows Charlotte to push more players forward for the attack.
Kollmorgen is less aggressive, which forces Charlotte to play a little more defensive than they’re used to. But Kollmorgen has proven her ability. In the two matches since Howell went out, Kollmorgen shutout Louisville 3-0 and took Cincinnati to double overtime before losing 1-0 with just over 13 minutes left. Jill Currie and Meredith Mayo provide the offensive fireworks for the 49ers.
