Amid freezing temperatures and sporadic rain, the Bills kept alive a Conference USA title hope by trouncing the DePaul Blue Demons 5-1. However, the score does the game no justice.
The Blue Demons did not come remotely close to taking a shot on goal by halftime, and the Bills missed more than a few opportunities to widen the scoring margin. When all was said and done, the Bills had tallied 24 shots to the Blue Demons’ 4, and had essentially put on a clinic for the shivering–yet energetic–crowd to enjoy. Even with the victory, the Bills are not satisfied.
“There are always little things to work on and get better at, even after a game like this,” said coach Dan Donigan. The Bills’ Jack Jewsbury got the scoring started in the 26th minute, knocking home a header off a corner kick from Kevin Wickart.
The goal was the first of the night, but could have been at least the second had it not been for the heroics of a DePaul defender, who came from nowhere to head a ball clear of the Blue Demon goal after Jason Cole had beaten the Demon goalie with a header of his own.
The Bills continued to dominate the half but were unable to put another goal in three minutes were left Jewsbury struck again, this time threading the needle on a pass to Nathan Garcia, who took the Blue Demon keeper on one-on-one and buried the ball in the back of the net. The Bills had a brief mental lapse after coming out of the locker room at halftime and the Blue Demons capitalized on a corner kick of their own, bringing the score within one goal two minutes into the second half.
But the Bills quickly countered, and Cole took the ball down the sideline, cut back and placed a perfect pass to Nick Walls, who gathered the ball and knocked it past the awestruck goalkeeper.
“That third goal was the backbreaker. They lost something after we put that in,” Donigan said.
In the 78th minute, Jewsbury struck again in a play strikingly similar to his assist in the first half to Garcia, only this time Cole was on the receiving end of the perfectly placed Jewsbury pass.
Cole increased his conference leading, season goal total to 13 on the play.
Cole also has the overall conference point lead, now with 30 (14 goals, 4 assists). Also, Jewsbury, having dished out two assists on the night, vaulted himself to number one on the conference assist list.
Walls capped the scoring in the 80th minute, knocking in his second goal of the night off of another Wickart assist.
Overall, the Bills looked solid, appearing to have bounced back from a heartbreaking 3-3 double overtime tie to TCU last week and a stunning 2-1 upset loss dealt to them by South Florida on a game-winning goal with less than three minutes to play. In the TCU game, Cole carried the Billiken offense scoring all three goals and recording his first hat trick of the season.
However, with the win over DePaul, the Bills continued their domination of the Blue Demons, now owning an 11-0 record in the all-time series.
The Bills improved to 10-3-2 on the season and 5-2-1 in conference play, while DePaul drops to 7-7-2 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
The Bills entered the week ranked 17th in the Soccer Times’ weekly top 2 poll.
This Saturday, the Bills head south to face off against the Memphis Tigers in the conference closer.
The Tigers are 2-5 in conference play this year and are bringing up the bottom of the C-USA standings.
However, the Tigers are fighting for a spot in the conference tournament, so they will not hold anything back.
Still, the Bills have not fared as well on the road as they do at home. At Hermann Stadium the Bills own a 23-game winning streak. However, this year on the road they are only 1-3-2.
The Bills will look to improve their road record Saturday at Memphis.
