ST. LOUIS - No. 11 Saint Louis and Xavier both remained unbeaten in Atlantic 10 Conference men's soccer action as the teams played to a controversial 2-2 overtime draw tonight at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. With the game knotted late in regulation, it appeared SLU had taken a 3-2 lead with four minutes remaining, but the Billikens had the goal taken off the scoreboard after a referee conference.
"The guys played with a lot of fight and resilience," Billikens coach Dan Donigan said. "It is unfortanate that our go ahead goal was called back, because all indications looked as if the ball had crossed the line. It is ashame that we didn't get rewarded for a supreme effort tonight."
Saint Louis thought it had taken in the lead in the 86th minute when sophomore midfielder Dado Hamzagic's 15-yard blast caromed off the cross bar and came straight down. After the nearside linesman called it a goal, the referee confided with the linesman. After a lengthy discussion, the goal was taken off the board and the two teams eventually played through two scoreless overtime periods and into the 2-2 draw.
Xavier jumped on top first as junior midfielder Chris Miliano connected in the 21st minute. From the right flank, junior midfielder Jon Enders served a ball into the Bills' penalty area where freshman midfielder Chris Korb redirected it to Miliano who was unmarked advancing from the left flank. Miliano beat SLU keeper Ross Kaufman to the right corner from 10 yards.
SLU sophomore midfielder Dado Hamzagic's netted the equalizer in the 25th minute after a Billiken corner. When the XU defense was unable to clear the ball, Hamzagic emerged from a scramble at the right post and buried an eight-yard shot to the left corner. The Bills survived a couple of scares from the Musketeers as Enders' diving header went just high in the 26th minute. SLU keeper Ross Kaufman made the save of the night after a Bills' defensive miscue. XU forward Toni Skrudzik suddenly found himself one-on-one with the SLU netminder 12 yards from the goal in the 31st minute, but Kaufman smothered the shot to preserve the 1-1 tie.
SLU sophomore midfielder Kyle Patterson gave the Bills a 2-1 lead in the 50th minute. Patterson tucked a shot three-yard shot inside the left post after XU's Curran stopped SLU senior midfielder Alex Matteson's shot. It was Patterson's third goal of the season and Matteson's third assist of the year.
The Billikens were forced to play a man down from the 55th minute on after Matteson became entangled with Musketeers defender Ricardo Sutherland at midfield. A melee ensued, and Matteson was issued a red card for his involvement.
Xavier tied the match in the 84th minute as senior forward Toni Skudrik sent a 15-yard deflection past SLU's Kaufman. Sandwiched between two Billiken defenders and with Kaufman charging, Skrudrik managed to get enough of the ball to send it home. Slav Ubiparipovic picked up an assist.
Despite playing down a man for 55 minutes, Saint Louis still out-shot Xavier (6-6-1 overall, 3-0-1 A-10) 12-11 and had a 4-0 edge on corners. Each keeper made four saves on the night.
Saint Louis (7-3-2, 3-0-1) concludes its eight-game homestand with Senior Day festivities prior to meeting A-10 foe Dayton on Sun., Oct. 15, at 1 p.m. At halftime Sunday, the Bills will honor their 1970 national championship team and SLU legend Al Trost, who was inducted into the national soccer Hall of Fame this summer.
