St. Louis - Saint Louis shut out defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Connecticut 1-0 in men's soccer exhibition match tonight before a crowd of 4,106 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Newcomer Dipsy Selolwane scored the lone goal to back the goalkeeping of senior John Politis.

Selolwane found the back of the net at 16:09 on a header from 10 yards off a free kick from Hermann Trophy candidate Brad Davis. Selolwane almost scored a second goal when his deflection rolled just wide of the right post later in the half. UConn later survived a shaky moment defensively when keeper Bryheem Hancock was caught off his line, but the Billikens couldn't take advantage.

"Dipsy's reputation is that he scores big goals in key games, and he did that tonight," Donigan said. "Brad made a tremendous serve on that ball, and he's one of the best in the country at serving crosses."

"Dipsy gives us another player up front who can hold the ball when we need it, and it's obvious that he's got tremendous skill," Davis said. "This is going to be a fun season, particularly when we get everyone back.

The Billikens played without preseason All-American Jack Jewsbury, team captain and preseason All-Conference USA defender Joe Hammes and sophomore defender Nick Gannon. Still recovering from an ankle sprain, midfielder Nick Walls played sparingly.

UConn turned up the pressure in the second half as they out-shot the Bills 6-3 as Hermann Trophy candidate Chris Gbandi bid for the tying goal. Politis was right on a Gbandi free kick, and the Huskies' defender sent a drive just wide of the right post in the waning minutes.

The Huskies out-shot the Billikens 11-8 for the match as Politis made three saves to post the shutout. UConn's Hancock made four saves.

"This is a great win for us to build on as a team, because we were trying to sort some things out here tonight with all the people we had sitting out," Donigan said. "To compete with the national champions, who admittedly are trying to mix in some new people, too, lets this group know what they are capable of accomplishing."

The Billikens open the regular season by entertaining Eastern Illinois on Sat., Sept. 1, at 7 p.m.

SAINT LOUIS 1, CONNECTICUT 0
SLU   16:09  Dipsy Selolwane 10-yd header off Brad Davis free kick

Shots: SLU-8, UConn-11 Corners: SLU-3, UConn-5 Saves: SLU-3 (Politis), UConn-4 (Hancock) Fouls: SLU-18, UConn-14 Att: 4,106