Brad Davis sent a message to the collegiate soccer world Saturday night. He didn’t say anything special. However, this message was delivered with his foot.
The sophomore phenom lifted the Saint Louis University Billikens past the Eastern Illinois Panthers by scoring three of the Billikens four goals in their 4-1 victory at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
Davis’ first goal came in the 29th minute. But there was no setup required as he dribbled through EIU defenders and fired a shot from six yards out that sailed right down the middle of the net past Eastern’s goalkeeper Justin Bennett.
Just as the Billiken crowd was settling down from Davis’ goal, senior forward Dipsey Selolwane took a brilliant feed from Davis and sophomore midfielder Andy Pusateri and powered the ball through the net. Dipsey was not far behind, as he too toppled into the net after being pushed by a defender.
While the Billikens’ offense was heating up, the defense appeared to struggle in the first half. SLU survived a number of scares, but senior goalie John Politis held strong and fought off various Panther shots. Politis ended the evening with eight saves. EIU did sneak past the Billiken defense in the 40th minute. Jason Thompson fed Aaron Aguirre, who sent the ball just inside of the left post from about five yards from the goal.
Perhaps the defense was sparked by Davis’ second goal of the evening at the end of the first half.
Nearly a minute after EIU sent their first and only goal through the net, Davis received a brilliant pass from senior midfielder David Beck that sailed over the Panther defenders.
Davis chased and rocketed the ball past Bennett, re-establishing the Bills’ two-goal lead at halftime.
“We really confused them on Saturday night. Dipsey and I were switching around on them a lot. It was definitely a tactical thing on our part. It was very successful,” Davis said.
The defense stiffened after half, but so did the Billikens’ offense. The two squads were at a stalemate for most of the second half. But Davis had some unfinished business to attend to.
In the game’s 89th minute, Selolwane sent the ball to Beck who gave the ball perfectly to Davis eight yards out. Davis rifled his third goal past the EIU defense. Davis was pleased with the teams’ effort.
“It was a good game. Coming off a big win against UConn, we wanted to keep up the same tempo. We did just that,” Davis said.
The Bills will have to do just that again this weekend, as SLU will face two of the nation’s top teams in North Carolina and Rutgers in the Saint Louis University Nike Classic.
The Bills will face Rutgers Friday at 7 p.m. The 10th ranked Scarlet Knights, led by senior forward Dennis Ludwig, are 1-0 as the head into Hermann Stadium. The Bills ranked 6th according to the latest polls, however, they lead the all-time series 4-0-0. SLU beat the Scarlet Knights 2-1 in an overtime match at Rutgers’ own tournament last year.
The Billikens will then play the 5th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hermann Stadium. The Billikens remain confident as they face these two tough foes this weekend.
