St. Louis - Hermann Trophy candidate Will John scored twice and assisted on the other Billiken goal as Saint Louis held off SMS 3-2 tonight in a non-conference men's soccer match before 1,236 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The Billikens improved to 6-0-3 all-time against the Bears.

"It was a win that was extremely important, and was a good win in our region," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "This puts us into good position in our region as we make a push through the last month."

Each side had a good scoring opportunity early as the Bears' Kai Harris made SLU keeper Martin Hutton dive to his left to stop an 18-yard drive in the sixth minute. Off a corner kick, the Bills' John had a shot ticketed for the right corner cleared off the line by SMS defender Justin Douglass.

SMS broke the stalemate in the 19th minute on freshman forward Danny May's breakaway. Freshman midfielder Chris Deal out-leaped a SLU defender to flick midfielder Jim Levesque's long ball to the left flank. May ran onto it and beat Hutton to the right post.

Billiken junior midfielder Ryan Wileman knotted the game in the 31st minute. Wileman settled John's serve in traffic in front of the goal and knocked a six-yard shot past SMS keeper Nathan Platz.

John put the Billikens on top in the 48th minute with a dipping 25-yard drive from the right of the SMS penalty area to the upper left corner. Casey Spiess picked up the assist.

"It was good to see the things that we talked about at halftime work out immediately," Donigan said. "We talked about hitting some long balls over their defense that we could run on to. Will got on the ball and hit a strike that only great goal scorers can make."

SMS senior midfielder Doug Lascody tied the match in 66th minute as he bent a 15-yard shot on the ground from the left of the SLU goal to the right post. Freshman Ryan Anderson got the assist.

The Billikens answered less than three minutes later as John notched his second of the night off a through ball from junior midfielder Danny Wynn. One-on-one against Bears back-up keeper Lance Parker, John made no mistake from six yards in the 69th minute.

SMS (7-3-2) dropped its third straight match after opening the season with a nine-game unbeaten streak. The Billikens out-shot the Bears 11-7 and had a 7-4 edge on corners. SLU's Hutton made four saves. Meanwhile Platz and Parker combined for two stops and the SMS defense had that one ball cleared off its line.

Saint Louis (5-4-1) concludes its four-game homestand with UAB on Sat., Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. It's Homecoming and a fireworks display will be held at halftime.

SAINT LOUIS 3, SMS 2
SMS  18:03  Danny May breakaway from Chris Deal, Jim Levesque
SLU  30:56  Will John
SLU  47:31  John 25 yds from Casey Spiess
SMS 65:43  Doug Lascody 15 yds from Ryan Anderson
SLU  68:29  John 6 yds from Danny Wynn

Shots: SLU - 11, SMS - 7 Corners: SLU - 7, SMS - 4 Saves: SLU - 4 (Hutton), SMS - 3 (Platz 2 , Parker 0, Team 1) Fouls: SLU - 16, SMS - 11 Att: 1,236