St. Louis - Third-ranked Saint Louis used a four-goal second half to race past TCU 4-0 tonight in a Conference USA men's soccer match before a Reunion Weekend crowd of 4,088 at Robert R. Hermann Field. Hermann Trophy candidate Brad Davis netted the game winner, while senior John Politis made two saves to post the shutout.
"We played extremely well tonight, created lots of chances but had some bad luck finishing in the first half," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "I can't single out one individual for playing exceptionally, but no one had a bad night, either. That usually makes for a good result, and we're happy with it."
Davis finally broke the ice at 52:12. Davis collected senior sweeper Marty Tappel's long ball on the run, held off two Horned Frogs defenders and sent an eight-yard screamer past TCU keeper Michael LaHoud. Saint Louis gave itself some breathing room on senior forward Dipsy Selolwane's goal in the 71st minute. After a TCU defensive giveaway, All-American forward Jack Jewsbury fed Selolwane who made no mistake from 12 yards.
Jewsbury iced the match in the 75th minute after a good run by senior midfielder David Beck along the top of the TCU penalty area. Beck left a ball for Jewsbury, who beat LaHoud from eight yards. The TCU keeper got an arm on the shot, but couldn't control it. Junior forward Nick Walls closed the scoring in the 82nd minute on another shot that LaHoud got a piece of. Walls ran down Jewsbury's long ball, and his 10-yarder deflected off LaHoud and slowly rolled across the goal line with a Horned Frogs defender in futile pursuit.
Saint Louis was frustrated in the first half as the Billikens out-shot TCU 9-3 in the first half, but couldn't break through against LaHoud. After a TCU defensive miscue, Davis had a break-in, but LaHoud was equal to the task on Davis' drive from 12 yards. Selolwane sent a diving header high off a crisp cross from Walls in the 30th minute. After a Billiken corner, a ball popped free to sophomore midfielder Andy Pusateri at the top of TCU's penalty area, but his 18-yard shot was wide of the far post in 36th minute. Davis hit a sensational deadball from just inside the midfield stripe that defender Mike Kirchhoff headed just wide of the near post in the 42nd minute. With just 90 seconds remaining in the half, senior midfielder Mike Hill watched his 20--yard drive go just wide of the near post after deflecting off a TCU defender.
The Billikens ripped a season-high 21 shots at the Horned Frogs and had a 15-shot edge. Politis made two saves, while his defenders helped out with two. TCU's LaHoud made six saves, and his defense cleared one ball off its own line.
Saint Louis (6-0-0, 2-0-0 in C-USA) stretched its unbeaten streak to 12 dating back to last season. Meanwhile, TCU (2-5-1, 1-1-0) lost their third straight match. Saint Louis travels to DePaul on Wed., Oct. 3, before returning to Hermann Stadium to face Memphis on Sat., Oct. 6, at Hermann Stadium.
SAINT LOUIS 4, TCU 0
SLU 52:12 Brad Davis 8 yds to far post from Marty Tappel's
SLU 70:58 Dipsy Selolwane's 12 yds from Jack Jewsbury
SLU 74:01 Jewsbury 8 yds off break-in from David Beck
SLU 81:49 Nick Walls 10 yds off long ball from Jewsbury
Shots: SLU-21, TCU- 6 Corners: SLU-6, TCU-4 Saves: SLU-4 (Politis-2, Team-2), TCU-7 (LaHoud-6, Team-1) Fouls: SLU-17, TCU-22 Att: 4,088
