St. Louis - Fourth-ranked Saint Louis used a pair of goals from national Player of the Year candidate Dipsy Selolwane to topple Western Illinois 2-0 in a non-conference men's soccer match tonight on a cool, breezy Halloween night at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Junior midfielder Nick Walls picked up two assists as the Billikens ground out a win.
"It was a workmanlike effort, but we have areas that we need to address in the next few weeks," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "We had some breakdowns that we can correct. We can't always be playing top 25 teams or playing before huge crowds, and we still need to learn to play at a high level more consistently. Yet, we still created enough good chances to score a few more."
Saint Louis charged out of the gate and had three glorious scoring opportunities early. Hermann Trophy and MAC Player of the Year candidate Brad Davis sent a 20-yard drive just wide of the left post in the fourth minute. Leathernecks keeper Amen Tonianse made a sparkling save on a 15-year blast from Selolwane 90 seconds later. In the seventh minute, junior forward Jack Jewsbury missed a good opportunity with a shot wide right.
Selolwane netted the winner at 30:47 on a low, blistering 12-yard one-touch delivery off a cross from Walls. The Billikens carried the lead to the break.
Walls created the insurance goal at 66:30. After knocking down a WIU clearing attempt, Walls drove to the endline and sent a cross to the right post. Sophomore midfielder Nick Gannon knocked it back in front of the net, and Selolwane pounced on it and hammered it home from two yards.
Senior goalkeeper John Politis didn't have to register a save to post his fourth shutout of the season. While the Leathernecks didn't put a shot on goal, WIU was dangerous at times. Junior defender Mike Kirchhoff came back hard to break up a second half two-on-one. Senior defender Tim Sartori made a clean tackle in the SLU penalty area to clean up a WIU chance created by a poor Billiken clearing attempt. Senior sweeper Marty Tappel broke up a second-half three-on-two opportunity.
Saint Louis out-shot the Leathernecks 16-7 and had a 7-3 edge in corners. WIU's Tonianse made several sparkling stops among his eight saves. His defense also cleared a ball off its own line denying SLU midfielder Andy Pusateri of a goal.
Saint Louis (12-1-0, 7-1-0 C-USA) completes its three-game homestand with a Conference USA match against Marquette on Sat., Nov. 3. Kick-off is 7 p.m. kick-off at Robert R. Hermann Stadium as the Billikens recognize their eight seniors. WIU dropped to 7-8-1 overall.
SAINT LOUIS 2, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
SLU 30:47 Dipsy Selolwane 12 yds from Nick Walls
SLU 66:30 Selolwane 2-yd redirect from Nick Gannon, Walls
Shots: SLU-16, WIU-7 Corners: SLU-7. WIU-3 Saves: SLU-0 (Politis), WIU-9 (Tonianse-8, Team-1) Fouls: SLU-12, WIU-10 Att: 873
