St. Louis - Saint Louis and UCLA played to a 2-2 tie in regulation time in a men's soccer exhibition tonight before 4,548 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Senior striker Jack Jewsbury (Springfield, Mo. / Kickapoo) scored twice within three minutes in the first half, but the Bruins scored twice in the second half to knot it.
"We did some good things tonight and generated good scoring opportunities, but the late goal was disappointing," head coach Dan Donigan said. "It was good to see us respond positively after last Sunday's loss at Connecticut, and we're making great strides."
UCLA dominated the action in the first 15 minutes and had the first four shots of the game. Billiken keeper Martin Hutton (Spring, Texas / Klein) needed to be alert, but wasn't severely tested.
The Billikens got on the board at 28:12 when Jewsbury netted the first of his two markers. Freshman midfielder Danny Wynn (St. Louis, Mo. / Chaminade) served a ball to Jewsbury who flicked it past UCLA keeper Zach Wells from 10 yards. Wynn hooked up with Jewsbury again on a corner kick at 31:39. Jewsbury deflected Wynn's low drive from six yards inside the near post.
"A couple of goals felt good after the UConn game," Jewsbury said. "Wynn gave me two great balls from the sideline, and I was able to get my head on both."
Hutton made five high quality saves along the way and the first came in the 37th minute when he dived to come up with UCLA defender Leonard Griffin's header. In his first season after transferring from Clemson, Hutton made a pair of sprawling saves in one sequence in the 54th minute. He dived to the near post to deny UCLA forward Tim Pierce and recovered to his right to thwart midfielder Ryan Futagaki from point blank at 10 yards.
The Billikens survived another UCLA flurry when Chadd Davis and Matt Taylor broke in on a 2-on-1 in the 63rd minute. Davis hit the cross bar, and Billiken defender Joe Hammes (Cedarburg, Wis. / Marquette) cleared Taylor's rebound shot off the Bills' line.
Hutton came up big against Davis in the 75th minute, and Pierce's follow shot was just wide of the right post. UCLA finally broke through at 77:51 when Evan Corey put Pierce in all alone against Hutton, and Pierce went around the SLU keeper to tuck it behind him.
UCLA continued to press, and Pierce connected for the tying goal at 89:14. Futagaki found Pierce six yards off the left post, and Pierce buried it.
"We've got a lot of new faces, and we're trying to gel," Jewsbury said. "We've been working with some different combinations and the two forward formation gave us more offense in the first half. This was a big improvement from last week."
The Bruins out-shot the Billikens 15-8 with Hutton making eight saves for the Bills. Zach Wells made three stops for the Bruins before being relieved by Nate Pena, who made one critical save on Billiken defender Ntando Tsambo in the 77th minute.
Saint Louis finished its two-game exhibition season with a 0-1-1 mark. The Billikens open the regular-season on Fri., Aug. 30, against Wake Forest at North Carolina's tournament. The Bills face the defending national champion Tar Heels on Sun., Sept. 1, in Chapel Hill.
SAINT LOUIS 2, UCLA 2
SLU 28:05 Jack Jewsbury 10-yd header from Danny Wynn
SLU 30:40 Jewsbury 6-yd flick off corner kick from Wynn
UCLA 77:51 Tim Pierce breakaway from Evan Corey
UCLA 89:14 Pierce 6-yds from Ryan Fatugaki
Shots: SLU-8, UCLA-15 Corners: SLU-8, UCLA-6 Saves: SLU-9 (Hutton-8, Team-1), UCLA-4 (Wells-3, Pena-1) Fouls: SLU-13, UCLA-8 Att: 4,548
