St. Louis - Illinois-Chicago blanked No. 25 Saint Louis 1-0 tonight in a men's non-conference soccer match at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. The Flames took advantage of the short-handed Billikens, who played a man down for nearly 50 minutes after defender Calum Angus was ejected. It was the regular-season opener for both teams.
"The game turned on the tackle, and it is just asking an awful lot of a team to play a quality opponent short a man and come up with a positive result," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "Now, we almost got it done, and a number of our young guys stepped into the gap tonight and played well, but there's a psychological and physical drain from having to play against an opponent who is just going to knock it around."
The Billikens controlled the tempo throughout the first half and held a slim 4-3 edge in shots at the break. Freshman defender Rob Viviano broke up the best scoring chance for the Flames in the opening half with a sliding block of Pawel Otcahel's centering pass from the right flank intended for any one of three unmarked UIC attackers trailing the play. SLU senior midfielder Larry Geraghty was denied by UIC keeper Jovan Bubonia.
Saint Louis opened the second half with a pair of corner kicks but couldn't convert the opportunities. In the 58th minute, senior defender Dan Guffey hit the cross bar with a header off John DiRaimondo's corner kick. The Flames netted the winning goal in the 72nd minute as forward Tonci Skroce connected on a short header to the left post after defender Mike Giffin's free kick ricocheted off the cross bar. UIC did a superb job of protecting the lead, and SLU could only muster one shot in the remaining minutes.
The Billikens suffered injury problems throughout the match. Sophomore midfielder Eric Sweetin left the match in the 18th minute, and Viviano departed in the 56th minute. DiRaimondo went down after a hard tackle in the 36th minute, but was able to return for the second half. Guffey also had to retire in the 87th minute after having to depart for a breather earlier.
The Flames out-shot the Billikens 8-7, and the corners were even at five apiece. UIC's Bubonia made three stops to record the shutout, while SLU's Nick Billman made four saves. Sophomore Kyle Patterson led the Bills with two shots.
It was the Billikens' first loss in a regular season opener since a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Boston College in 1995, and was SLU's first loss in a home opener in the eight-year history of Hermann Stadium. Saint Louis travels to Indiana's adidas Classic next weekend to meet Notre Dame on Fri., Sept. 1, at 4:30 p.m. (CT) and Connecticut on Sun., Sept. 3, at 11 a.m. (CT).
