St. Louis - Senior forward Jack Jewsbury netted the winner in the 85th minute as Saint Louis rallied past Cincinnati 2-1 tonight in Conference USA men's soccer match before 2,041 rain-drenched fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The win lifted the Billikens into sole possession of first place in C-USA and stretched the Bills' winning streak to nine.
"Cincinnati did what they had to do on the road to win, but we thought that we deserved the win," head coach Dan Donigan said. "We ended up with the better of the play and got the job done under difficult conditions. Make no mistake, though, that Cincinnati will have to be dealt with at the end of the year."
In blowing rain at the start of the match, Cincinnati struck in the third minute. Off junior midfielder Tim Brown's cross, sophomore midfielder John Liersemann out-leaped a Billiken defender to head it past SLU keeper Martin Hutton from 10 yards.
The poor weather continued to have an impact throughout the first half, and the Bearcats out-shot the Billikens 3-2 during the first 45 minutes. Saint Louis' best opportunity came in the 18th minute when senior midfielder Jack Jewsbury drove a 22-yard shot high over an open net after a scramble caused by Danny Wynn's cross into the UC penalty area.
With the wind and rain blowing in their faces in the second half, Cincinnati mostly chose to defend and take the occasional counter attack. The Billikens generated most of the chances in the second half. Jewsbury was wide of the far post in the 51st minute. Bills defender Kevin Wickart was dangerous with a pair of 40-yard shots off free kicks with the wind at his back.
Bearcats goalkeeper John Adams made the save of the game and was ejected at 73:40. After making a spectacular diving stop on Jason Cole's header, Adams punched a SLU player while both were entangled on the ground. That forced UC to play a man short the rest of the way as Sacha Nathu took over in goal.
"Sometimes, you need a little bit of luck," Donigan said. "It was obvious in the heat of the moment that their keeper made a poor decision. There was no question that it changed the entire complexion of the match."
The Billikens moved one of their tallest players, Joe Hammes, up top and repeatedly served balls into the UC penalty area. The tactic finally paid off at 81:33 when Hammes beat Nathu to a cross and headed the tying goal home from eight yards.
Saint Louis continued to pressure, and Jewsbury knocked down a UC clearance attempt and ripped a 22-yard drive that deflected off a UC defender and skipped over Nathu for the winner. Jewsbury has scored in four straight games.
"The conditions weren't conducive to playing the way we like to, so we played a more direct game," Donigan said. "We couldn't play the nice one-touch, combination soccer that we're known for, because the ball was skipping everywhere. We were able to adapt to the conditions and get an important win over a good Cincinnati team.
Saint Louis out-shot Cincinnati (5-5-1 overall, 3-2-0 C-USA) 8-2 in the second half and 10-5 for the match. Hutton made three saves for the Bills. Adams had one save, Nathu made two stops and the Bearcats' defense cleared another ball off its own line.
The Billikens (9-2-1 overall, 4-1-0) now has a week to prepare for a date at South Florida on Sat., Oct. 19.
SAINT LOUIS 2, CINCINNATI 1
UC 2:11 John Liersemann 10-yd header from Tim Brown
SLU 81:34 Joe Hammes 8-yd header from Andy Pusateri
SLU 85:45 Jack Jewsbury 22 yds deflects off defender
Shots: SLU - 10, UC - 5 Corners: SLU - 3, UC - 1 Saves: SLU - 4 (Hutton-4), UC - 3 (Adams-1, Nathu-2, Team-1) Fouls: SLU - 20, UC - 12 Att: 2,041
