The Billikens began conference play on the Sept. 14 with a 1-0 win against the Loyola Ramblers. SLU’s goal came courtesy of defensive superstar Lyndsey Heckel, a header off of a perfectly placed corner kick by junior midfielder Hannah Larson. That Sunday the Billikens would host the LaSalle Explorers to kick off SLU’s homecoming week.
LaSalle came to St. Louis 3-5-2 and had yet to begin conference play. The Billikens gave them a harsh introduction, beating them 4-0. The game started slow, with both teams only putting forward five shots in the first half, entering the second tied at 0-0. Momentum would shift less than five minutes into the half when SLU forward Emily Gaebe got fouled in the box by Explorer junior midfielder Gabby Picco. Heckel would net her third goal of the season by skipping it into the lower left corner, clear of LaSalle’s junior keeper Michela Auguadro. Twenty minutes later freshman defender Eva Schreiber would collect a loose ball and make a run along the left touchline before crossing it to Gaebe who would pad the lead with a touch, placing it just out of Auguadro’s reach and into the back of the net. LaSalle would not have much time to breathe as two minutes later, in the 71st minute, Hannah Sawyer would recover her own corner kick that had been punched away and bounce it into the goal off of the far side post. Freshman forward Jordan Gary earned the assist with a pinpoint accurate volley pass to Sawyer who dribbled past LaSalle’s Emily Banashefski and sailed it over Auguadro to give the Billikens a 3-0 lead with just under nineteen minutes left to play.
Emily Gaebe drove in the final nail of LaSalle’s coffin in the 74th minute. Seizing an opportunity Gaebe intercepted a pass by defender Jillian Drumm intended for Courtney Gaston and ran head-on towards Auguadro. Outrunning Picco, she skimmed it past Augruadro into the lower right to score her second goal of the match and her fifth of the season. SLU improved to a 7-2-1 record off of an overwhelming offensive performance. SLU out-shot LaSalle 15-8 and tripled their shots on goal 9-3. Saint Louis currently leads the Atlantic 10 in shots per game with 17.3, ahead of University of Dayton’s 15.67.
On the topic of Dayton, the Flyers came to Midtown on the Sept. 24, one week after SLU’s victory over LaSalle. Dayton would tie SLU 1-1 in a hard-fought match. Dayton’s defense is among the few in the A-10 capable of keeping up with SLU’s fast-paced, aggressive offense. They also have an elite defense, anchored by sophomore goalie Batoul Reda who has the second fewest goals allowed in the conference, with eight, only behind Massachusetts’ Bella Mendoza, with seven. SLU’s Emily Puricelli isn’t far behind with ten. Puricelli is fourth in the conference in saves per game, stopping 55 shots in eleven games played. Puricelli and Reda both had six saves during Sunday’s game, only one getting by each. SLU had chances to score in the first half, including a header by Stramm off of the near post and a screamer by Sawyer that was just high, but instead finished the half tied 0-0.
SLU’s goal came in the 52nd minute when freshman midfielder Emma Blockius would head it out of the backfield over the midline to Gaebe who would turn and burn to get by three Dayton defenders and launch it into the back of the net. Blockius’s assist was her first-ever point as a Billiken. Dayton would equalize in the 70th minute when senior midfielder Diana Benigno pivoted into a shot, placing the ball just past Puricelli and into the bottom left of the goal. Gaebe would have a chance to put the Bills back on top in the 87th minute with possession a yard away from the goal but wouldn’t be able to get the shot off under the pressure of multiple defenders. Both teams would come away disappointed with the result as each considers themselves a contender for the conference title.
With seven games remaining in the regular season, all conference matchups, Head Coach Katie Shields is likely to continue to make adjustments to maintain the Billikens’ five-season streak of A-10 Championship titles.
