St. Louis - Saint Louis shut down New Mexico 1-0 in a second round NCAA Tournament match tonight before 1.722 frosty fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The Billikens advance to face No. 2 seed Maryland in College Park on Sun., Dec. 1, at noon (CT).
"We knew that we needed to defend first, because that's what wins championships, and our attack will take care of itself," head coach Dan Donigan said. "Our back three were tremendous, and our triangle in the middle was great, because they weren't able to get much."
Saint Louis got the only goal it needed in the 18th minute as senior forward Jack Jewsbury connected from 10 yards to the left post. After senior midfielder Nick Walls knocked down a clearing pass, he beat a Lobos defender on the right flank and dropped a pass for Jewsbury. The Billikens' second-leading scorer buried the low shot past UNM keeper Andrew Weber. With the goal, Jewsbury increased his career point total to 101 and became only the 11th Billiken to join the century club.
"It looked as if their keeper got screened, and Jackie has a quick release in the box," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "That quick release will get you a lot of goals."
"Nick got out wide, beat their defense and played a great ball to me," Jewsbury said. "I didn't strike it perfectly, but it found the back of the net. That's all that matters."
"I was screened, but I did see it at the last moment," Weber said. "I got my finger tips on it, but it trickled in. We mis-cleared the ball, and it cost us."
New Mexico had an excellent opportunity to tie the match in the 35th minute. After a SLU foul, the Lobos had a restart along the endline to the right of the goal. Lobos freshman midfielder Jeff Rowland got off a six-yard shot that SLU keeper Martin Hutton punched away. The Bills carried the 1-0 lead to the break.
In the second half, it was almost all Saint Louis. The Billikens fired the first six shots of the half and out-shot the Lobos 11-1 over the final 45 minutes. New Mexico didn't get its first shot of the second half until the 58th minute.
Weber became the man of the match as his heroic effort in goal kept the Lobos within striking distance as the Billikens kept coming in waves. Weber was brilliant on saves on Cooper McKee's shot from four yards in the 68th minute, and on Jason Cole headers in the 70th and 77th minutes. Weber's defense also came to his aid as it cleared Mike Kirchhoff's header off a corner kick in the 72nd minute. UNM's cause was further dampened when defender Brandon Moss picked up his second yellow card with just under eight minutes to play and was ejected.
"That run by Saint Louis in the second half ... they really took it to us," Lobos head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. "We were fortunate to weather the storm.
"It was an exciting environment to play in," Fishbein said. "Saint Louis showed that they've been in this situation before, and the advantages of being fresh from the first round bye were evident."
The Billikens (15-3-2) out-shot the Lobos 13-3 and had a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks. SLU keeper Martin Hutton made two saves to post his fifth shutout of the year.
Champions of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, New Mexico (18-3-0) had the most successful season in school history come to a close.
SAINT LOUIS 1 NEW MEXICO 0
SLU 17:31 Jack Jewsbury 10 yds from Nick Walls
Shots: SLU - 13, UNM - 3 Corners: SLU - 5, UNM - 0 Saves: SLU - 2 (Hutton), UNM - 5 (Weber-4, Team-1) Fouls: SLU - 25, UNM - 19 Att: 1,722
