The Saint Louis University men’s soccer team is one of the
youngest teams in the nation. Of the 27 players on the Billikens
roster, 23 are either freshmen or sophomores. So when you take
those young players and toss in a few upperclassmen and a
formidable schedule, one can not only help but wonder how long it
will take for everything to fall into place. This past weekend is
an indication that the pieces are assembling, and they are
definitely finding the right places.
Last weekend, the team traveled to play in the Adidas Classic,
hosted by the University of Virginia. Friday night pitted the
Billikens against the University of Akron. Saint Louis came out of
the game with a hardfought, nose-to-the-grindstone, 1-0 victory.
The only scoring occurred in the 31st minute, when freshman Will
John scored on a free kick. Martin Hutton recorded the victory, and
the shutout, his first of the season.
"We did some good things today against a big, strong,
talented, mature Akron team," coach Dan Donigan said in a
press release. "We stuck to our game plan throughout and
knocked it around pretty well."
On Sunday, the bills took on host and 14th-seeded Virginia in
the concluding game of the tournament. In one of the more bizarre
matches the Billikens might play this year, they came away with a
3-2 overtime victory.
Early in the match the Billikens opened up the scoring as
freshman Vedad Ibisevic scored in the 7th minute on a pass from
fellow freshman David Peplinksi.
SLU struck again in the 36th minute when freshman John
DiRaimondo scored on a 25-yard free kick, which was similar to
John’s goal on Friday. Saint Louis went into the half with a 2-0
lead and momentum.
However, in the first five minutes of the second half, freshman
Alex Matteson was issued his second yellow card and was ejected
from the contest; thus, SLU was forced to play a man down.
Virginia started to pour on the shots as a good team would
playing against a team of 10. Matt Oliver of Virginia scored in the
70th minute to cut the Billikens lead to 2-1. Ten minutes later,
Virginia tied the game on a penalty kick by Chris Megaloudis.
Regular time would end with the game dead locked at 2-2. However,
in the 97th minute Peplinksi scored the game winner and the
Billikens escaped with a 3-2 victory.
The victories gave the Billikens the overall tournament victory,
and Hutton, Kevin Wickart, DiRaimondo and Brian Grazier were named
to the All-Tournament team.
Also, because of his performance in the tournament, Peplinksi
was named C-USA’s offensive player of the week.
This weekend the Billikens resume play with another tournament,
traveling to Furman for the Furman Soccer Classic.
On Friday, the team takes on No. 9 Clemson, Hutton’s former
team.Clemson holds the all-time series lead at 2-4-1, but the Bills
look to get that series a little closer to even on Friday. Sunday,
SLU takes on host and 14th ranked Furman in the final match of the
tournament for the Billikens.
Saint Louis beat Furman last year 2-0 in the Nike Classic at
Hermann Stadium. They look to extend their all-time series lead to
3-0-0.
