St. Louis, Mo. - SMU's Matt Whiteley drilled his second goal of the game in the 87th minute as the Mustangs handed ninth-ranked Saint Louis University it's first loss of the season 3-2 this afternoon before 1,822 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The Mustangs claimed the championship of the Billikens' own Nike Classic after Saint Louis had done the same to SMU a year ago in Dallas.

"We came ready to play, but we didn't match SMU's intensity in the first half," Billikens head coach Bob Warming said. "SMU is so talented that if we don't play our best game, we're in trouble. That pretty much sums it up. We came on in the second half, but they made some defensive plays late, while we had a break down."

The Mustangs dominated the first half in terms of possession and out-shot the Billikens 6-to-3. SMU got on the board at 27:55 as All-American forward Mohamed Fahim volleyed a serve from Bret Corbin with SLU defender Joe Hammes draped all over him.

The Billikens only had three quality scoring chances in the first half and connected on the third. The SMU defense cleared a free kick by the Bills' Brad Davis, but Marty Tappel stepped into it from 25 yards and hammered it into the upper right corner at 43:54.

SMU jumped on Saint Louis early again in the second half as Whitely scored his first goal at 48:35 on a 10-yard header off another cross from Corbin. The Bills evened it at 64:58 when Davis was sent in clean by David Beck and ripped a 15-yard drive in off the far post.

The Mustangs' defense made two game-saving stops to preserve the tie. Jack Jewsbury's header in the 79th minute was cleared by defender Lee Brown at the far post. Nick Walls' drive from 12 yards with SMU keeper Byron Foss off his line was headed over the cross bar by the SMU defense.

The SMU game winner came at 86:41 off a set piece as tournament Defensive MVP Carl Bussey found Whiteley in the Billikens' penalty area. Whiteley's first shot was stopped by SLU keeper Paul Nagy, but the rebound came right back to him and Whiteley pounded it home from five yards.

The Mustangs out-shot Saint Louis 14-13 despite being out-shot by the Bills 10-to-8 in the second half. Foss made five saves and his defense cleared three balls off its line. Nagy made seven stops for the Bills, while his defense stepped in to make one save.

The Billikens fell to 2-1-0, while SMU evened its record at 2-2-0. Saint Louis travels to Vanderbilt's Commodore Classic next weekend to face James Madison and Cornell. SMU hosts its own Nike Classic next week and will face UNLV and George Mason. In the first game today, Louisville blanked Cal 3-0.

SMU 3, SAINT LOUIS 2

SMU 27:55 Mohamed Fahim 10-yd volley off Bret Corbin serve

SLU 43:54 Marty Tappel 25 yds unassisted

SMU 48:35 Matt Whiteley 10-yd header off Corbin cross

SLU 64:58 Brad Davis 15 yds from David Beck

SMU 86:41 Whiteley 5-yd rebound unassisted

Shots: SLU-13, SMU-14

Corners: SLU-5, SMU-5

Saves: SLU-8 (Nagy-7, team-1), SMU-8 (Foss-5, team-3)

Fouls: SLU-16, SMU-28

Att:1,822

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM SMU - Carl Bussey--Def. MVP, Mohamed Fahim--Off. MVP, Matt Whiteley, Tom Dolan, Kevin Hudson, Luchi Gonzalez

SLU - Jason Cole, Mike Hill, Jack Jewsbury

California - Chris Roner, Leo Krupnik

Louisville - Adrian Cann, Shawn Faria