Aug. 28, 2004

St. Louis - Fourth-ranked Saint Louis and Northwestern played to a 1-1 regulation tie in a men's exhibition soccer match tonight before 1,265 fans on a humid night at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Billiken Herman Trophy candidate Will John scored the lone Saint Louis goal as the Bills completed an unbeaten preseason schedule. "That was a good game for us to have going into the regular season, because Northwestern was disciplined, organized and came at us," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "We will see a lot of teams like that this year, so it was beneficial. It showed that even the smallest mistakes lead to big problems, and we can correct those." Each team scored on its first shot in the first half. John put the Bills on top in the fourth minute on a 10-yard header off junior midfielder Danny Wynn's serve from the left flank. Northwestern countered in the seventh minute as sophomore midfielder Will Nicholas connected on a 12-yard header off John Carlstedt's serve. Northwestern had the better of the play in the early portion of the second half, but the momentum swung back to Saint Louis when veteran midfielders John DiRaimondo and Alex Matteson returned to the match in the 63rd minute. Billiken keeper Pat Disbennett had to be alert to prevent an own goal when loose ball in front of the SLU goal glanced off defender Mo Benne. The Bills had the best opportunity in the second half in the 73rd minute when NU keeper Brian Beckenbach saved Matteson's 12-yard drive. The rebound went directly to DiRaimondo whose 10-yard shot to the far post was cleared away by Wildcats defender Brad Harper. NU forward Gerardo Alvarez was dangerous throughout the second half and had a game-high four shots. His curving 20-yard shot slammed off the outside of the left goalpost in the 75th minute. Northwestern out-shot the Bills 10-9, but Saint Louis had an 8-5 edge on corners. SLU's Jeff Sackman and Disbennett combined for five saves, while NU's Heckenbach and Justin Pines made four stops. Saint Louis concluded its exhibition schedule with a 1-0-2 record. The Billikens open their regular season by hosting Missouri-St. Louis on Wed., Sept. 1, at 7 p.m.

#4 SAINT LOUIS 1, NORTHWESTERN 1
SLU  3:23  Will John 10-yd header from Danny Wynn
NU  6:29  Will Nicholas 12-yd header from John Carlstedt

Shots: SLU - 9, NU - 10
Corners: SLU - 8, NU - 5
Saves: SLU - 5 (Sackman-1, Disbennett- 4), NU - 5 (Pines-1, Beckenbach-3, Team-1)
Fouls: SLU - 10, NU - 12
Att:  1,265