St. Louis - Hermann Trophy candidate Will John scored twice in the first half as fourth-ranked Saint Louis topped No. 11 Virginia 2-1 this afternoon of the Saint Louis Nike Classic before 1,306 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The win gave the Bills second place in the Classic after SMU claimed the title with a 3-2 win over Cincinnati in the first game.

"After losing that SMU game in heartbreaking fashion Friday night, we needed this one," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "We tried to have a lot of movement off the ball to wear down their defense, but you knew that Virginia was going to come back. We had some exhausted defenders, but we held them off."

Saint Louis had the better of the scoring chances throughout the first half as junior midfielder Ryan Wileman was consistently dangerous. In the fifth minute, Wileman was wide from 15 yards and his bicycle attempt in the 24th minute hit the inside of the right post and rolled back along the goal line without crossing it. Cavaliers keeper Ryan Burke parried SLU forward Will John's 18-yard blast wide of the right post in the 35th minute.

John and sophomore midfielder John DiRaimondo combined twice within four minutes to put the Bills on top. John finally broke through in the 41st minute as DiRaimondo put him in with a through ball. John's 12-yard shot beat Burke to the right post. It was the first goal that UVa yielded this year. The duo combined again at 44:08 with John drilling a 16-yard shot to the right post.

"Will and Johnny are two intelligent, active players, and opportunities result from that," Donigan said. "Will is a tremendous finisher and has that knack for creating opportunities."

Virginia (3-1-0) struck quickly in the second half off a free kick. Senior defender Matt Oliver flicked Hunter Freeman's serve into the right corner of the net in the 47th minute. While the Billikens went into a more defensive mode, the Cavaliers pressed the attack and out-shot the Bills 5-3 in the second half and had a 5-2 edge in corners.

For the match, Saint Louis (3-1-0) out-shot Virginia 13-11, but the Cavaliers had a 7-3 advantage on corners. SLU keeper Pat Disbennett made three saves, while Virginia's Burke made five stops.

Saint Louis participates at the St. John's Nike Classic next weekend in Jamaica, N.Y. The Bills face George Mason on Fri., Sept. 17, before challenging No. 2 St. John's on Sat., Sept. 18.

#4 SAINT LOUIS 2, #11 VIRGINIA 1
SLU  40:47  Will John 12 yds from John DiRaimondo
SLU  44:08  John 16 yds from DiRaimondo
UVA  46:27  Matt Oliver 10 yds from Hunter Freeman

Shots: SLU - 13, UVA - 11 Corners: SLU - 3, UVA - 7 Saves: SLU - 3 (Disbennett), UVA - 5 (Burke) Fouls: SLU - 13, UVA - 22 Att: 1,306