Coming off a historic 2012 season, the Billiken men’s soccer team is already gaining some national attention. The squad is ranked No. 10 in the College Soccer News preseason poll. The Billikens posted 16 wins in route to an Atlantic 10 tournament title last year; the title earned them a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Farleigh Dickinson University in their first match.
SLU has high expectations again this year, returning all but one starter from last year’s team. Junior forward Robbie Kristo and senior goalkeeper Nick Shackelford will return to anchor the Bills’ offense and defense, respectively.
In addition to the national attention, the Bills recently announced their schedule for the 2013 season. The slate is highlighted by a plethora of big match-ups: four teams in the preseason rankings are on tap, starting with No. 4 Creighton University on Oct. 2.
In addition, the Billikens will host an exhibition with perennial powerhouse Akron University at Hermann Stadium on Aug. 24. The regular season gets underway on Aug. 30, when the Billikens host Oral Roberts University in St. Louis. Another exciting A-10 season will begin when SLU hosts Fordham University on Oct. 11. And while they won’t play A-10 rival VCU during the A-10 Conference season, they will face the preseason No. 27 Rams on Oct. 6 in a rematch of last season’s A-10 title game.
