St. Louis - Saint Louis senior midfielder Jack Jewsbury scored a goal and assisted on two others as the Billikens topped DePaul 5-1 tonight in Conference USA men's soccer before 831 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Nick Walls scored twice as Saint Louis snapped a two-game winless streak with the victory on a cold, gray, drizzly night.
"We took DePaul out of its game early and made it very difficult for them," head coach Dan Donigan said. "Nick Walls is an offensive weapon, and he made his presence felt tonight. We missed him in the three matches that he missed with an injury, but he's back in form. That's important for us as we try to finish strong."
Saint Louis dominated play from the outset and recorded the first 13 shots and eight corners of the game. Jewsbury's deflection off a Kevin Wickart corner kick to near the post sailed just past the far post in the 10th minute. In the 15th minute, the Blue Demons' defense kept SLU leading scorer Jason Cole off the board by clearing the Billiken forward's eight-yard shot off the line.
Jewsbury and Wickart combined on another corner kick to put Saint Louis on top 1-0 at 26:00. Jewsbury sailed through a pack of Blue Demons defenders and drove Wickart's sizzling serve into the turf with a three-yard header past DPU keeper Mike Timlin.
Freshman midfielder Patrick Garcia netted his first career Billiken goal in the 42nd minute. Garcia sent a 22-yard drive over DPU's Timlin who had come off his line to challenge the SLU midfielder. Jewsbury picked up an assist on the goal. The Billikens carried the 2-0 lead to halftime and out-shot the Blue Demons 13-0 in the half.
DePaul sliced the lead in half in the opening moments of the second stanza on its first shot of the match. Demons midfielder Tim Blake got his corner kick over the top of Billiken keeper Martin Hutton, and defender Patrick Vynke popped a six-yard header over a pair of Billiken defenders at 46:04.
Saint Louis answered quickly less than two minutes later. After collecting a long ball down the left side, Cole beat one Demons defender and found Walls on a run through the middle of DPU's defense. Walls side-stepped one DPU defender and struck a 10-yard shot under the cross bar at 47:55.
Jewsbury picked up his second assist of the night on Cole's goal at 77:32. After fighting off three Demons defenders to win the ball, Jewsbury slipped a through ball to Cole who finished it from 10 yards. Walls closed the scoring in the 80th minute off a through ball from Wickart.
Cole registered nine shots after firing a career-high 10 shots at TCU. He is C-USA's leading scorer with 30 points (13G, 4A) and has career highs in points, goals and assists. "No one has been able to contain Jason since we moved him up top," Donigan said. "DePaul didn't have any one individual who could stay with him, so that opened things up for Nick and Jackie."
Saint Louis out-shot DePaul (7-7-2, 3-4-0) 24-4 and had an 8-3 edge in corners. DePaul's Timlin made nine saves, while SLU's Hutton made one stop before freshman Jeff Sackman relieved him in the 80th minute.
Saint Louis (10-3-2 overall, 5-2-1) plays its final regular-season road match at Memphis on Sat., Nov. 2.
SAINT LOUIS 5, DePAUL 1
SLU 26:00 Jack Jewsbury 3-yd header off Kevin Wickart ck
SLU 42:15 Patrick Garcia 22 yds from Jewsbury
DPU 46:04 Patrick Vynke 6-yd header off Tim Blake ck
SLU 47:55 Nick Walls 10 yds from Jason Cole
SLU 77:32 Cole 10 yds from Jewsbury SLU 79:57 Walls 9 yds from Wickart
Shots: SLU - 24, DPU - 4 Corners: SLU - 8, DPU - 3 Saves: SLU - 1 (Hutton, Sackman), DPU - (Timlin - 9, Team - 1) Fouls: SLU - 12, DPU - 7 Att: 831
