St. Louis - Saint Louis senior midfielder Ryan Wileman's header with 2.8 seconds remaining in the first overtime gave the Billikens a hard fought 2-1 triumph over Rhode Island in Atlantic 10 Conference men's soccer tonight before 1,340 fans at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. It was Wileman's first appearance after missing three matches with a foot injury.

"At halftime, we told our guys that they weren't being rewarded for the great work that they had done, but if they kept after it, then the rewards would come," said Billikens head coach Dan Donigan. "It was a game that we thought we deserved to win, and we managed to pull it out."

With the first overtime session about rto expire and the ball near the front of the Rhode Island bench, SLU freshman midfielder Eric Sweetin sent a long serve into the Rams' penalty area, where Wileman streaked in and connected on the header just inside the left post.

In a first half that Saint Louis completely dominated with the Billikens out-shooting the Rams 11-3 and enjoying 5-0 edge in corner kicks, the Rams jumped on top in the seventh minute off a Billiken miscue. A SLU clearance attempt was knocked down and caromed directly to URI leading scorer Jeffrey Gonzalves, who fed fellow striker Lukasz Tumicz breaking down the left flank. With a Billiken defender hanging on him Tumicz beat Bills keeper Jeff Sackman to the left post.

The Billikens' best chance came in the 39th minute when a loose ball in the URI penalty bounced to SLU freshman forward Kyle Patterson. Rams keeper Dean Ruddy recovered, dived to his left and recovered to snag Patterson's six-yard shot.

Rhode Island was more aggressive offensively in the second half as the match evened out. Gonzalves nearly gave the Rams a two-goal edge in the 56th minute with a 15-yard shot that hit the inside of the left post and the rebound came flat all the way across the goal mouth before the Bills' defense knocked it away. Saint Louis tied the match in the 61st minute on Calum Angus was taken down from behind just inside the top of the URI penalty area.

Each side had chances to end it in regulation. With 13:20 to play, SLU midfielder Casey Spiess' five-yard deflection was cleared just wide by a URI defender. With 10 minutes remaining, Rams keeper Dean Curry tackled Bills freshman forward Kyle Patterson in the URI penalty area, but the referee looked away as the crowd howled. The Rams had a two-on-none shortly after that, but SLU's Sackman broke it up.

In the early moments of the OT session, Rams midfielder Danleigh Borman jumped on a loose ball at the top of the SLU penalty area and sent a 20-yard shot through traffic just wide of the left post. The Bills' DiRaimondo had a 22-yard free kick go through the Rams' wall and just wide of the left post.

SLU out-shot Rhode Island (5-6-1, 1-1-0) 18-11 and had a 6-4 edge in corners. Ruddy made three saves for the Rams, and his defense twice came to his aid. SLU's Sackman made three stops to pick up the win.

Saint Louis (6-4-1, 3-0-0) makes its final 2005 regular-season appearance at Hermann Stadium by entertaining Massachusetts on Sun., Oct 16, for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

SAINT LOUIS 2, RHODE ISLAND 1 (OT)
URI  6:21  Lukasz Tumicz 10 yds from Jeffrey Gonsalves
SLU 60:23 John DiRaimondo PK
SLU  99:57 Ryan Wileman's 6-yd header from Eric Sweetin

Shots: SLU - 18, URI - 11 Corners: SLU - 6, URI - 4 Saves: SLU - 3 (Sackman), URI - 5 (Ruddy-3, Team-2) Fouls: SLU - 20, URI - 19 Att: 1.340