The Saint Louis University men’s soccer squad faces an uphill
battle as they play to defend their status as Conference USA
tournament champions this weekend.
SLU will travel to Louisville for tournament play with the fifth
seed of six teams in hand.
The Billikens are slated to open C-USA tournament play when they
face the University of South Florida Bulls on Thursday. Kick-off is
at 4 p.m. central time.
SLU and USF battled to a 2-2 tie on goals from Alex Matteson and
Nick Cicciarelli in a hurricane swept match at USF in
September.
The winner of the first-round match will face No. 11 Memphis on
Friday at 4 p.m.
The Tigers beat SLU 2-0 in Memphis on Oct. 23, but fell to the
Bulls 0-2 in south Florida.
Sixth-seed Charlotte will take on third-seed Cincinnati at 6:30
p.m. on Thursday, and the winner of that match will face No. 23 UAB
on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The second-seeded Blazers earned a first-round bye for their
regular-season performance.
The championship match will feature the winners of the Friday
games and will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
This is the 10th and final year of Billiken participation in
C-USA soccer, and has been a decade that has seen the Bills
consistently on top of the standings.
SLU has won six C-USA tournament titles, including their titles
in each of the last four years.
Dan Donigan has been at the helm during the last three
championship runs and served as an assistant on the SLU bench for
two others.
The Bills have triumphed in either the regular season C-USA
standings or the C-USA tournament for the last seven years.
SLU needs three consecutive tournament victories this weekend to
extend their dominance into an eighth year. Donigan’s squad has
mounted only one three-game win streak this season.
That run was the longest streak of consecutive Billiken
victories so far in 2004.
SLU’s performance in the C-USA tournament will dictate the
team’s placement in the NCAA College Cup brackets. Currently, the
Bills tied for the sixth-place ranking in the Midwest region.
An early exit from C-USA post-season play could spell disaster
for the Bills’ chances of College Cup play.
A second-round victory over Memphis would be especially
advantageous for SLU, as the Tigers are also in the Midwest
region.
The region also includes Creighton and DePaul, both of whom SLU
defeated in regular season play, and SMU, who toppled the Bills
with a 1-0 regular season victory in overtime.
Sophomore Will John was named one of 15 semifinalists for the
Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann trophy, an award that honors the
Division I player of the year.
John leads SLU in scoring with 10 goals and four assists.Four of
his tallies this season have been game winners. John is the only
player from a C-USA school to be named a semi-finalist.
Among the semi-finalists is only one other sophomore as well as
four players from SLU opponents in 2004.
