After a rocky start to the regular season last week at home, the Saint Louis Billikens picked up their first win of the season this weekend at the Nike Invitational Tournament in Portland, Ore. The Bills defeated Washington 2-1 on the evening of Sept. 4, but were handed a 3-1 loss by the Portland Pilots on Sept. 5.

For the Billikens, ranked no. 21 in the preseason polls, this weekend’s tournament provided a chance for Head Coach Dan Donigan to get to know his team, his lineup, and particularly, his younger contributors.

“Tournaments like this give our players a chance to get acclimated and adjusted to high quality opponents,” Donigan said.

Sophomore Mike Roach amassed two goals in more than 170 minutes of playing time during the course of two matches. Donigan said that the Billikens offense revolves largely around Roach’s talent and creativity.

In the first game of the Invitational, the Bills jumped out to an early lead over the University of Washington. It only took SLU three-and-a-half minutes before sophomore Alex Johnston found his classmate Mike Roach at the top of the box, and Roach buried his second shot past Huskies goalkeeper Rylan Hawkins for a 1-0 lead. Junior midfielder Beau Bellamy added to the lead in the 39th minute after taking a one-time feed from Jimmy Holmes to his right.

Though the Huskies (1-2-0) bombarded the Billikens’ defense in the second half, SLU goalkeeper Ross Kaufman was only beat once, by Washington’s Casey Cunningham, scored minutes after halftime.

After bringing the match to 2-1, the Huskies were repeatedly outplayed by the Bill’s defense, which kept Washington scoreless for the game’s final 35 minutes. This allowed SLU to pick up their first win of the 2009 season.

On Sunday afternoon, the Billikens found themselves locked in an evenly matched game with tournament host Portland. It was a “back-and-forth game,” according to Coach Donigan, but the Pilots (1-1-0) struck first. Thirty-three minutes in, Billiken defender Alex Johnston was whistled for a foul in the box, and Portland senior Collen Warner converted the penalty kick to give the Pilots a 1-0 lead headed into the half.

It didn’t take Portland long to add a tally in the second half. Less than a minute into the second half, the Pilots converted a perfectly executed corner kick to up their lead to 2-0. Though SLU’s Mike Roach was able to get the Billikens on the board late in the game on a penalty kick, Portland added another goal to put the game away in the 82nd minute.

The loss dropped Saint Louis to a 1-2-0 record on the year, which Donigan attributed mostly to “mental mistakes in the flow of the game.” He said though he is disappointed with the Billikens’ current record, “it gives us a few things to work on, and a few things to build on for the rest of the season.”

Donigan also said he is impressed and pleased with the play of his freshmen so far this year, particularly SLU High’s Nick Maglasang. Maglasang was recognized as the Missouri High School Defensive Player of the Year last fall, and was named to the Atlantic-10 Preseason All- Rookie team at the start of this season. “Nick is versatile and talented, and really, he’s a workaholic,” said Donigan. “I’ve placed him at three or four positions this year and he has been unbelievable.” Maglasang not only started both matches this weekend, but played a full 90 minutes in each.

The Billikens return to Robert R. Hermann Stadium on Sept. 26, when they take on Tulsa for Homecoming weekend.