The No. 13 Saint Louis men’s soccer team traveled to Ohio on Saturday, Oct. 25 for a crucial A-10 matchup against the Dayton Flyers. The Billikens fell behind early in the 9th minute of the game when Flyer James Haupt beat SLU keeper Sascha Otte to put the Flyers up 1-0.
The Billikens responded shortly after Raymond Lee scored his second goal of the season in the 13th minute. Filip Pavisic was credited with the assist as he connected with Lee in a congested penalty box. Both teams would be unable to take advantage of offensive opportunities and the score would remain 1-1 at the end of the first 45 minutes.
The score would hold as a draw until 76:13 when the Billikens would once again find themselves down a goal. Flyers midfielder Amass Amankona shot the ball into the upper right corner of the goal after receiving a pass from Brian Richards.
It seemed that the game would end in a 2-1 loss for the Billikens, but a penalty at the 87:06 mark would give SLU the opportunity to pull out a draw. Anthony Manning took the penalty shot and snuck the ball past Flyer’s keeper.
The cold weather on Sunday, Nov. 2 could not keep the Billikens from celebrating their final home game against Rhode Island and the honoring of the senior players and their families. Coach McGinty praised the senior men saying that he is “extremely proud of them…they have done an excellent job finishing the last two years undefeated at home and doing things well to put us into a really good position.” Coach McGinty smiled proudly as he took pictures with each of the seniors and their respective families.
There was anticipation building for this game due to Rhode Island coming off an 11 game win streak against some highly-ranked opponents including Dayton, who SLU tied with on Saturday, Oct. 25. SLU (10-3-2) possessed the ball for most of the first half with eight shots on goal, but was unable to convert on any attempts. Fans held their breath at 12:48 when Billiken goalie Sascha Otte committed to an oncoming Ram who quickly passed the ball off to a teammate. This decision left the goal wide open, but due to the quick thinking of the defense to crash the goal, no damage was done. Robert Kristo had the opportunity to put the Billikens up with 2:45 left in the first half, but his header passed the goal face. The frustration for the players was evident, not only due to their missed attempts, but because of the physicality of the game paired with the lack of calls on the official’s end. The half ended scoreless with many opportunities missed and Otte having only one save.
The second half began with much of the same physical competitiveness that was seen in the first 45 minutes. There were an astounding 13 fouls committed by the Rams–eight occurring in the second half. The Billikens had six fouls in total. When asked to comment on the physicality of the game Coach McGinty stated, “It is coming down to that time of the year, both teams were battling. Rhode Island is a good team and at the top of the league for a reason, so you are going to get those games this time of year.”
Both teams exchanged scoring opportunities, five shots on goal for the Billikens and three for the Rams, to no avail. Fans gathered their things to leave as the clock hit the 87th minute, when the ball went out of bounds and SLU was awarded a corner kick. There was not much anticipation, since SLU already had seven corner kicks for the game and was unable to convert any of them. The ball was sent into the box toward senior forward Kingsley Bryce. Bryce was able to settle the ball, but the goalie corralled the ball. It seemed like the play was over, but Bryce refused to give up and his perseverance resulted in the ball creeping over the goal line. Rhode Island was unable to recover in the final three minutes of the game, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Billikens.
After the game, Bryce commented on the sense of relief he felt after scoring the goal as the team kept “plugging away at them a lot and kept getting a lot of corners and a lot of shots, but [the ball] wouldn’t go in. Finally, when it was in, I thought, ‘Thank God’”.
Both players and coach thought that the lack of goals with the amount of scoring opportunities did not indicate a problem in the offense, but rather a need to finish and be hungrier in the box. Bryce described how special the night was, especially after his goal, calling it a dream and stating that he believes that SLU is ready for the post season. The Billikens (11-3-2) will finish out their season at VCU, who has an overall record of 7-7-4, on Friday, Nov. 7.
VCU is coming off a victory after beating George Washington 2-0 on Sunday, Nov. 2. The Billikens hope to gain some momentum to carry over into the post season, but looked forward to enjoying their spectacular victory on a very special night.
