St. Louis - Fourth-ranked Saint Louis celebrated Senior Night with a 2-1 victory over Marquette in a Conference USA men's soccer match tonight before 2,561 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The win clinched at least a share of the C-USA regular-season title and a first round bye in the league's postseason tournament.

"It was a great night for our seniors to come away with the necessary result and getting that first day off in the conference tournament is huge," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "After not playing all that well on Wednesday, we responded with a tremendous first half. Whatever little funk that we had fallen into, we're out of it."

The Billikens got on the board in their first possession, which resulted in a corner kick. Hermann Trophy candidate Brad Davis' serve was headed by defender Mike Kirchhoff from the near post to the far post where senior Bobby O'Connell knocked it in at 1:22. It was the first goal of O'Connell's career in his first career start.

"I don't know if I'll ever have a better feeling than that," O'Connell said. "I respect the guys on this team so much and to score that goal in a big game like this was unbelievable."

"I'm so happy for Bobby, because he's busted his tail for four years and he scores in his first start," Donigan said. "It's just story book. I had to take him out right after that, because he was just exhausted from the emotion of the situation."

Marquette nearly tied it two minutes later, but was denied as SLU senior keeper John Politis made a leaping save to tip a header by Eagles defender Tom Nolan over the crossbar. Politis and his defense frustrated the Eagles on a number of occasions as the night wore on.

Billiken junior forward Jack Jewsbury had a goal disallowed in the 11th minute. The linesman ruled that Jewsbury used his hand to settle a long serve before he slipped it past Ubert. Nevertheless, Davis set up his second goal of the night in the 13th minute as fellow national Player of the Year candidate Dipsy Selolwane scored his 19th of the season. Davis sent a low, screaming serve into the Marquette penalty area, and Selolwane slipped by a Golden Eagles defender for a four-yard volley that eluded MU keeper Adam Ubert.

Marquette answered at 13:50 on Bryan Godfrey's 25-yard drive that banged off Billiken defender Mike Kirchhoff and ricocheted over Politis into the upper right corner. Saint Louis went on a number of dangerous attacking forays but had difficulty putting shots on net and carried the 2-1 lead to halftime.

Marquette's best opportunity to tie the match came in a scramble in the Saint Louis penalty area in the 48th minute. Golden Eagles forward Sean Reti cut in all alone on Politis, but was denied by the SLU keeper. The rebound came right back to Reti, but SLU senior sweeper Marty Tappel cleared his second shot off the Billikens' line. That rebound went to Mike Robards at the right post, but Bills senior defender Tim Sartori blocked his shot.

The Billikens never could get the third goal to get breathing room, but Jewsbury was dangerous with a 12-yard drive into the side of the net in the 52nd minute. Selolwane twice was wide with shots in his bid for a two-goal night.

"Give Marquette a lot of credit in that second half, because they made it a very direct game and they have some big people that are hard to handle," Donigan said. "But our defense met the challenge. Marty Tappel, Tim Sartori play 90 minutes every night and don't get enough credit for our success."

Marquette outshot the Bills 11-9 and had a 9-7 edge in corner kicks. Politis ended with three saves, but his best play of the night wasn't recorded as a save. When MU forward Chris Lee stripped Tappel in the second half and broke in on Politis, the veteran keeper dived and swiped the ball off Lee's foot before the striker could get a shot off. Meanwhile, Ubert didn't make a save all night.

Saint Louis (13-1-0, 8-1-0 C-USA) completes its regular-season at Charlotte on Wed., Nov. 7. Marquette is 9-6-1 overall and 4-4-0.

SAINT LOUIS 2,  MARQUETTE 1 
 SLU  1:22	Mike Kirchhoff
 SLU   12:33	Dipsy Selolwane 4-yd volley from Davis
 MU   13:50	Bryan Godfrey 25-yds unassisted

Shots: SLU-9, MU-11 Corners: SLU-7 MU-9 Saves: SLU-5 (Politis-3, Team-2), MU-0 (Ubert) Fouls: SLU-16, MU-23 Att: 2,561