In the end, something had to give.
Despite outshooting the Drake Bulldogs 21-10, the Billikens needed two overtime periods to find the back of the net.
In front of a packed house of 5,266 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on Saturday night, the team fought through the cold and rain to secure their 1-0 victory. Sophomore Nick Maglasang scored the game winner with 57 seconds remaining in the second overtime period.
Billiken faithful from across the country came out to watch the Homecoming match and to honor the 50th anniversary of Saint Louis University’s 1960 National Championship team. It was the sixth-largest crowd in SLU soccer history.
Although a defensive, methodical battle throughout the night, both teams had opportunities to tally a score, but great goalkeeping by both SLU’s Nick Shackelford and Drake’s Jordan Kadlec kept the game scoreless through regulation.
“It was just one of those games where you just battle, going hard into every tackle. You’ve got to be ready,” Maglasang said.
Early on in the night, freshman Christian Briggs placed a beautiful header toward the top of the net, but was thwarted by Kadlec, who got a hand on the shot, deflecting it off the crossbar. Moments later, SLU had another scoring chance off of a corner kick by Jake Brown, but the effort was disrupted by the Bulldogs once again.
With minutes remaining in the first half, Drake had its best opportunity of the game. In a rare occurrence, Shackelford was not in position to make the save. With an open net staring him in the face, Drake’s Brian Grand misfired and sent the shot over the frame.
The second half stuck to the script of the first – all defense. The Billikens controlled the ball throughout much of the half, controlling the tempo as well. The best scoring opportunity came with 16 minutes left in regulation. Freshman Adnan Gabeljic gained control of the ball with room to operate, but fired a shot wide of the posts.
After a grueling 90 minutes, the first of two 10-minute overtime periods began. Gabeljic struck a beautiful shot on goal that was stopped in a diving effort by the Drake goalkeeper.
The game was marked by skillful goalkeeping for both sides. Shackelford stopped all three shots he faced, and Drake’s Kadlec stopped six of the seven, both doing so in spectacular fashion, for the most part. Despite the outstanding goalkeeping, the Billikens kept pushing, and eventually, they broke through.
“[Kadlec] had a fantastic game. We had some great looks and good form. The overall attitude was aggressive; we took control,” SLU head coach Mike McGinty said.
With the second overtime winding down, Drake went on the offensive, tallying two shots on goal. Shackelford held true to form and swatted both attempts away, laying his body out with reckless abandon and setting up the Billiken’s final stand.
Freshman Jon Roeckle gained possession of the ball and booted it deep into the box where Junior Alex Johnston was waiting. Johnston headed the pass toward Maglasang who seized the opportunity and buried a shot to the far post with less than a minute remaining in the contest.
“I just saw a little opening, and it seemed like the moment lasted forever. I kept my head down, put my knee over the ball and just put it in the back of the net,” Maglasang said.
After scoring the game-winner, Maglasang was mobbed by his teammates in celebration.
“The way things turned out wasn’t by design. We didn’t want to wait that long to score, but I’m happy and proud of our guys and would have been even if it was a draw,” McGinty said.
It was the second consecutive homecoming game to go into overtime. Last year’s contest between SLU and Tulsa went to double overtime before the Golden Hurricanes scored to win the game 5-4.
