With three new coaches, but without a a full roster, the women’s club soccer team captured first place in its first tournament of the 2008 spring season.

The Billikens played three teams-Bradley, Monmouth College and Notre Dame-on Bradley University’s campus in Peoria, Ill., on April 5.

The team added three new coaches this year: juniors Tim Lodl, Bryan Arko and Alex Joyce.

“We coaches didn’t know what to expect with the tournament because we didn’t get a chance to see the girls play a full game,” Lodl said. “But we were really adamant about trying our best, coaching wise.”

The Bills started off the pool play in the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Bradley, a team SLU defeated in the fall, 5-0.

“We thought they would be OK, but they were tougher than we remembered,” team captain Katie Bak said. “It was a re-adjustment for us with a lot of new players.”

After taking a short break, the lady Bills came back with their second matchup against Monmouth College, a game that Bak described as “back and forth.”

“We had never played Monmouth College before, so it was good to have exposure to a different team,” Bak said.

By the time the Bills faced Notre Dame in the final game, they had already earned enough points to win, so the 2-2 draw did not go into overtime. Lodl said the tournament was important because it proved that the team could beat tough competition.

“The team was able to spread out the girls from other teams, which tired them out,” Lodl said. “We made the ball do the work, and at the end of the day, it was the other teams that tired out. We really pulled together as a team and played amazing.”

The team concludes its spring season with a game against Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday, April 19.