St. Louis - No. 21 Cincinnati rallied from a two-goal deficit to upset fifth-ranked Saint Louis 4-3 in overtime tonight in a Conference USA men's soccer match at Meyers Field. It was the Bearcats' first win over the Billikens in the 19-match history of the series.
"We had a 3-1 lead, and we should be able to maintain that," head coach Dan Donigan said. "We made a couple costly mistakes, and Cincinnati worked hard to take advantage of them."
UC midfielder Tim Brown ended the game in the second overtime with a header off a cross from forward Wiremu Patrick at 104:02
The Bearcats took an early lead as forward Justin Lewis blasted an 18-yard drive past SLU keeper Jeff Sackman in the sixth minute. But Saint Louis freshman midfielder Alex Matteson countered with his first career goal at 35:03. Matteson was at the far post to knock in John DiRaimondo's corner kick.
The Billikens claimed the lead as freshman midfielder Casey Spiess notched his first career goal just over two minutes into the second half. On a counter attack, DiRaimondo found Spiess, who drove a shot from the top of UC's penalty area to the lower left corner.
Saint Louis assumed what appeared to be a commanding 3-1 lead in the 56th minute as Billiken leading scorer Vedad Ibisevic found the back of the net on a goalmouth scramble. But UC climbed back into the match at 60:43 on a restart when 'Cats midfielder John Liersemann drilled home a 35-yard shot.
Cincinnati set up the overtime when the 'Cats countered after picking up a loose ball in the midfield. Lewis tucked in a rebound at the right post for his second goal of the night.
Saint Louis played with a makeshift defensive backfield as two All-Conference performers - defender Kevin Wickart and goalkeeper Martin Hutton - sat out the match with injuries. The Bills also lost another All-C-USA player in Nick Gannon to injury during the match. "We did have people playing all over the place, but we should still be able to get it done with a two-goal lead," Donigan said. "We played hard and fought 'til the end, but we just couldn't quite get the job done tonight."
The Billikens saw their seven-game road winning streak end and also had their six-game unbeaten streak in overtime snapped. The Bills are 4-1-2 in overtime this season.
Cincinnati (7-2-4, 3-1-1) out-shot the Bills 13-10, but Saint Louis had a 10-3 edge in corner kicks. Jeff Sackman made six saves for the Bills, while UC's John Adams made three stops. .
Saint Louis (9-2-2 overall, 4-2-1 C-USA) visits Indiana on Fri., Oct. 24, in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
#21 CINCINNATI 4 #5 SAINT LOUIS 3 (2OT)
UC 5:02 Justin Lewis 18 yds from Tom Weable
SLU 35:03 Alex Matteson from John DiRaimondo
SLU 47:20 Casey Spiess 18 yds from DiRaimondo
SLU 55:35 Vedad Ibisevic goalmouth scramble from DiRaimondo
UC 60:43 John Liersemann unassisted
UC 75:19 Justin Lewis rebound
UC 104:02 Tim Brown header from Wiremu Patrick
Shots: SLU - 10, UC - 13 Corners: SLU - 10, UC - 3 Saves: SLU - 6 (Sackman), UC - 3 (Adams) Fouls: SLU - 16, UC - 21 Att: 520
