Ryan Wileman knows how to make a comeback.

The senior midfielder on the Saint Louis University men’s soccer team underwent two surgeries at the beginning of the season, which made him unable to play in the preseason and limited his play in the first few games of the season.

Recently, he also missed three consecutive matches.

When he returned to the field last weekend at Robert R. Hermann Stadium, he made it count; he scored three goals in two victories over the University of Rhode Island and the University of Massachusetts.

The Billikens hosted Rhode Island on Friday night, and the Rams jumped out on top early. Jeffrey Gonsalves capitalized on a giveaway by the SLU defense and threaded a pass to Lukasz Tumicz, who sent the ball past SLU keeper Jeff Sackman to make the score 1-0.

Despite trailing 1-0 at the half, the Billikens dominated the game statistically, out-shooting the Rams 11-3 and leading in corner kicks 5-0.

Early in the second half, a pair of injured Billikens made their returns to the field.

Freshman defender Calum Angus was temporarily put in at forward, while Wileman returned to his normal position at midfield.

“Those two guys [Wileman and Angus] are key components to our team tactically, mentally and ability-wise on the field,” SLU coach Dan Donigan said. “Those guys bring a lot to the table, so it’s nice to have these guys back right now so they can be getting fit as we head into the most important part of the season, which is postseason.”

URI came close to adding to their lead when Gonsalves fired a shot on a breakaway that just beat Sackman early in the second half.

The ball caromed off the inside of the left post and rolled along the goal line before being cleared by a SLU defender.

The entries of Angus and Wileman would pay large dividends for the Billikens.

Within 10 minutes of entering the game, Angus made a run into the penalty area with the ball and was subsequently fouled, giving SLU a penalty kick.

Junior midfielder John DiRaimondo calmly dispatched the ball past URI keeper Dean Ruddy into the lower left corner of the goal to tie the score.

URI had a chance to regain the lead in the closing moments of regulation when they had a 2-0 breakaway on Sackman in the 86th minute.

But the pass across the penalty area was telegraphed, and Sackman dove out to snare the ball.

Both teams had chances to win in the first few minutes of overtime, yet neither could capitalize as Danleigh Borman fired a shot wide of the goal and DiRaimondo sent a free kick wide.

As the final seconds of the first overtime period were ticking down, freshman midfielder Eric Sweetin sent a long serve into the penalty area from the right side of the field.

As time continued to tick away, Wileman ran into the penalty area and got his head on the ball, sending it into the upper left corner of the goal away from Ruddy’s outstretched hand for the golden goal.

“Eric Sweetin gave me a great ball with 10 seconds left and I just tried to get my head on it, and it went in the goal,” Wileman said.

On Sunday, Wileman and fellow seniors Patrick Garcia, Andrew Moses, Jeff Sackman and Danny Wynn were honored before SLU’s final regular season home game against UMASS.

The seniors led the way to a 5-0 Billikens victory with each senior position player registering at least one point and Sackman shutting out the Minutemen in the first half.

Wileman got the Billikens on the scoreboard first in the 14th minute.

He collected a pass from Sweetin, spun around and fired a shot on goal. UMASS keeper Zach Simmons got a hand on it but it wasn’t enough, as the ball trickled by him into the goal.

SLU’s next strike came five minutes later on a display of impeccable passing. DiRaimondo sent a through ball to freshman Kyle Patterson, who was moving away from the goal.

Upon receiving the ball, Patterson sent a back heel pass right to fellow freshman Dado Hamzagic, who was making a run on goal. Hamzagic immediately struck the ball into the lower left corner of the goal.

The Billikens scored their third goal in less than 10 minutes when Wileman’s second goal of the game made the score 3-0.

A give-and-go by Hamzagic and Moses left Moses moving in on goal along the left end line. Instead of shooting on goal, he found Wileman waiting at the far right post and sent a pass across the goal mouth to the waiting Wileman, who tapped the ball in from a short distance.

After their flurry of goals in the first half, the Billikens scored one more time in the closing minutes. Hamzagic sent a through ball to Wynn, who sped down the left side of the field and sent a cross to DiRaimondo, who struck the ball into the goal from 10 yards out.

At the start of the second half, both teams substituted their keepers. SLU brought in sophomore Pat Disbennett, who was supposed to be the team’s starter at the position before having his season derailed by an ankle injury.

UMASS brought in St. Louis native Nick Billman, who managed to yield only one goal in his half of play to the four allowed by Zack Simmons.

The Billikens’ sole tally in the second stanza was the second career goal for Patrick Garcia, and gave the SLU seniors at least one goal or assist for the game. Sweetin fed Wileman, who moved in on goal with Garcia closely trailing. As Wileman drew Billman out toward the ball, he passed over to Garcia, who scored from 10 yards out.

“Even though we had a tough, hard-fought game on Friday against Rhode Island, our guys had enough energy and mental toughness to come back out and play well today regardless of what the opponent was going to give you,” Donigan said after the game. “I think our mentality of our team is strong right now, and I think we’re going to be a tough team to beat from here on out.”

For his efforts over the weekend, Wileman was named one of the Atlantic 10 men’s soccer co-Players of the Week.

He was also named the national team of the week by College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer.

With the wins, the Billikens improved to 7-4-1 overall and 4-0-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The Billikens are next in action in a pivotal game for the A-10 regular season title as they travel to Pittsburgh to visit the Duquesne Dukes.

The Dukes are tied with the Billikens atop the A-10 standings at 4-0-0.

Overall, they are 10-2-0 and are ranked 16th in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).

The game will be played at 5 p.m. St. Louis time at Rooney Field.

“We’ll try to learn as much as we can on their tendencies, their strengths, their weaknesses,” Donigan said. “I like where we’re at as a team right now heading into that game.”