St. Louis - Freshman midfielder John DiRaimondo scored in overtime to lift eighth-ranked Saint Louis past Memphis 2-1 tonight in a Conference USA men's soccer match tonight before 1,824 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The Billikens matched a school record with their eighth overtime match of the year and are 5-1-2 playing in extra time.
"We finally got a good bounce that we haven't gotten lately," said Billikens head coach Dan Donigan. "We kept coming, kept attacking and it eventually took its toll. Memphis was fighting for its life to stay in the hunt for the conference tournament, and they played well."
In overtime, Billiken midfielder Kyle Hopson nearly ended it in the 92nd minute when his header off a pin-point Kevin Wickart serve sailed just over the cross bar. But good fortune smiled on the Bills at 92:41. Tigers keeper Sebastian Vecchio snagged Hopson's cross into Memphis' goalie box, but a Tigers defender crashed into Vecchio and knocked the ball free. Billiken forward David Peplinski jumped on the free ball, but Vecchio blocked the shot. DiRaimondo pounced on the rebound and drilled it in the back of the net.
"It's a mess in there in those situations," DiRaimondo said. "Bodies are flying around, and you just pound it as hard as you can from six yards."
Saint Louis pressured early, and the Tigers' defense twice came to Vecchio's aid. After a Memphis giveaway, Billiken leading scorer Vedad Ibisevic beat Vecchio to a free ball at the top of the Memphis area and sent a header floating goal ward. Tigers back Justin Dyer raced back to kick it clear in the 11th minute. In a goalmouth scramble in the 16th minute, Tigers midfielder Peter Cummings dived at the left post to deny SLU midfielder Ryan Wileman's four-yard shot. Memphis was dangerous on two counter attacks, but couldn't muster a serious shot in the scoreless half.
Peplinski broke the scoreless deadlock in the 57th minute. Freshman defender Mo Benne sent a long ball up the right side. Peplinski ran on it and blasted a 15-yard drive to the far post.
Memphis answered just over two minutes later. Tigers leading scorer Andy Metcalf collected a long ball down the left flank from Cummings and chipped charging SLU keeper Martin Hutton from 20 yards.
Memphis (7-7-1 overall, 1-5-1 C-USA) saw its three-game winning streak end as the Bills out-shot the Tigers 10-7. SLU also had a 7-1 edge on corners. Vecchio made four saves, while SLU's Hutton made three stops.
Saint Louis (10-3-2 overall, 5-2-1 C-USA) snapped a two-game losing streak. The Bills return to Hermann Stadium on Sun., Nov. 2, at 1 p.m. for its regular-season home finale against Bradley.
#8 SAINT LOUIS 2, MEMPHIS 1 (OT)
SLU 56:22 Kevin Wickart
MEM 58:26 Andy Metcalf 20-yd chip from Peter Cummings
SLU 92:41 John DiRaimondo 6-yd rebound from Peplinski
Shots: SLU - 10, MEM - 7 Corners: SLU - 7, MEM - 1 Saves: SLU - 3 (Hutton), MEM - 6 (Vecchio - 4, Team - 2) Fouls: SLU - 9, MEM - 14 Att: 1,824
