St. Louis - No. 24 Saint Louis knocked off James Madison 3-1 this afternoon in the final game of the Billikens' Nike Classic at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Billiken senior midfielder Jack Jewsbury scored a goal and assisted on another in the first half to spark the Bills to their second straight win.
"Jackie is so much more comfortable in that attacking midfielder's role than when he's playing forward," head coach Dan Donigan said. "We need to take greater advantage of his ability to run at people and create scoring opportunities. The pass that he made to Andy Pusateri on Mike Kirchhoff's goal was a terrific play."
Saint Louis struck twice within a minute in the first half to take control. In the 26th minute, Jewsbury netted his first goal of the year. Jewsbury pounced on defender Kevin Wickart's cross that deflected off a JMU defender and hammered a 10-yard shot to the left post.
Billiken defender Andy Pusateri sent a sizzling low serve in front of the net to find the charging Kirchhoff. The Bills out-shot the Dukes 10-1 in the first half and had a 3-0 edge in corners.
The Billikens still had control throughout much of the second half, but a defensive break down led to the Dukes' goal at 75:11. Senior forward Andre Rutledge converted junior midfielder Ralph Lee's centering pass to make the last 14 minutes interesting.
The Dukes nearly tied the match in the 79th minute. After an errant Billiken clearing attempt landed right on the foot of Dukes midfielder Denny Fulk, Fulk's quick 20-yard shot was directly at SLU keeper Martin Hutton, who snagged the drive over his head.
"We still need to eliminate the small mistakes that crop up defensively," Donigan said. "There were about four spots on the field where someone could have made a play that would have stopped James Madison's goal."
Billiken forward Jason Cole closed the scoring at 83:10 on his second goal in two games. Freshman midfielder Cooper McKee worked his way around two Dukes defenders to the end line and dropped a pass that Cole drove to the right post from 12 yards.
The Billikens out-shot the Dukes (4-2-) 22-6 and had an 8-0 advantage on corners. JMU keeper Josh Kovolenko made five saves, and his defense cleared one shot off its line. Hutton made two stops for the Bills.
The Billikens (2-2-1) return to Conference USA action on Sat., Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. at Hermann Stadium. UC Santa Barbara topped Southwest Missouri State 4-1 in the first game and won the Classic title over the Billikens on the goal differential tiebreaker.
#24 SAINT LOUIS 3, JMU 1
SLU 25:55 Jack Jewsbury 10 yds unassisted
SLU 26:37 Andy Pusateri, Jewsbury
JMU 75:11 Andre Rutledge 5-yds from Ralph Lee
SLU 83:10 Jason Cole 12 yds from Cooper McKee
Shots: SLU - 22 , JMU - 6 Corners: SLU - 8 , JMU - 0 Saves: SLU - 2 (Hutton), JMU - 6 (Kovolenko-5, Team-1) Fouls: SLU - 20, JMU - 22 Att: 1,305
