St. Louis - Saint Louis senior midfielder Dipsy Selolwane knocked in the winner to support the shutout goalkeeping of John Politis as the sixth-ranked Billikens topped 10th-ranked Rutgers 1-0 tonight in the opening round of the Billikens' Nike Classic before a crowd of 2,011 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.

"That was an outstanding win over an extremely talented attacking team," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "John Politis made four or five big saves to give us the win. We expect John to make at least one exceptional save just about every night, so he came through big time for us tonight."

Rutgers started quickly as they had two corners in the opening minute, and the Scarlet Knights had the overall edge in the first half with an 8-4 shots advantage. Nevertheless, Saint Louis had the best early opportunity when Selolwane's 15-yard header was stopped by RU keeper J.D. Martin.

Saint Louis survived one RU attack in the 18th minute when Politis stopped Scarlet Knights' defender Todd Moser from 15 yards. The rebound went to senior striker Dennis Ludwig, whose 10-yard drive was cleared off the SLU line by a Billiken defender. That rebound ended up on the foot senior forward Dustin Sheppard, and his 12-yard shot went wide of the post.

The Billikens picked up the pace in the second half and had the better of the possession time, but RU still out-shot the Billikens 8-to-6 in the second session. In the 54th minute, SLU forward Nick Walls went over the cross bar from eight yards on a wide open after being set up by Brad Davis. Four minutes later, Ludwig bid to give the Scarlet Knights the lead with a 20-yard strike, but Politis was equal to the task.

Selolwane found the back of the net from eight yards after stealing the ball from a RU defender at the top left of the penalty area. When Martin left his line to challenge the SLU striker, Selolwane's 12-yard toe-poke rolled inside the right post. Martin kept his club in the game when he dragged down Selolwane in the RU penalty area in the 80th minute. Davis hit the ensuing penalty kick, but Martin dived to his left for a sensational save.

Rutgers turned up the pressure forcing Politis to make three more saves in the final eight minutes. RU out-shot Saint Louis 16-10 for the match and had an 11-2 advantage in corner kicks. Politis made seven saves for the Billikens, while Martin made four stops for the Scarlet Knights.

In the first game, defending ACC champion North Carolina needed a goal from Sean McGinty in the 87th minute to hold off Cincinnati 2-1. The Billikens (2-0-0) face the fourth-ranked Tar Heels (3-0-0) at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday after Cincinnati (1-1-1) and Rutgers (1-1-0) meet at noon.

SAINT LOUIS 1, RUTGERS 0 
 SLU   75:29  Dipsy Selolwane unassisted 12-yards to right post

Shots: SLU-10, RU-16 Corners: SLU-2, RU-11 Saves: SLU-7 (Politis-6, Team-1), RU-4 (J.D. Martin) Fouls: SLU-21, RU-13 Att: 2,011