St. Louis - Saint Louis senior midfielder Alex Matteson scored in the second half and the Billikens knocked off Duquesne 1-0 tonight in a men's Atlantic Conference soccer match at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Freshman keeper Ross Kaufman posted his second consecutive shutout. The league opener for both teams was played before a Homecoming crowd of 5,749, the second largest at Hermann Stadium.

"We continued to generate chances, and it was two veterans players who combined on the winner by being patient, recognizing the situation and capitalizing," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan said. "Our defense was stellar all night, because Duquesne never truly got any high quality chances.

Although Duquesne carried the play for the first five minutes of the opening half, Saint Louis had a wide edge in possession and quality chances for the remainder of the half. The Bills out-shot the Dukes 6-3, forcing All-Conference keeper Zach Varga to make four saves, while his defense cleared a ball off its own line in the 20th minute after a SLU deflection by Hermann Trophy candidate John DiRaimondo. Dukes junior forward Greg Annan got a foot on the shot, which popped up, hit the bottom of the cross bar and bounced away.

The SLU bench was irate in the 23rd minute when Bills forward Dado Hamzagic was taken down without a play on the ball in the Dukes' penalty area as he broke in on the left side, and no foul call forthcoming. Bills junior midfielder Brian Grazier's 15-yard shot was wide from the left side. Varga was on the spot to snap Hamzagic's header off a DiRaimondo cross in the 40th minute and easily handled Hamzagic's 22-yard shot in the 43rd minute.

The Billikens continued to press the attack in the opening moments as the Dukes' Varga tipped Casey Spiess' header off the bar in the 58th minute. Off a free kick in the 53rd minute, Grazier found Matteson unmarked at the top of the left side of Duquesne's penalty area. Matteson had so much time, he was able to turn on Varga and take three touches before depositing his 16-yard shot inside the left post. It was his second winner of the season.

SLU continued to challenge even as it settled into a more defensive posture. Defender Calum Angus beat two Dukes defenders on the right flank before sizzling a pass across the face of the Duquesne goal in the 64th minute, where both Spiess in the center of the goal box and Matteson at the left post missed diving deflections. Matteson continued to test Varga on a deflection of Spiess' 16-yard shot in the 83rd minute and a 12-yard re-direct that forced Varga to dive to his right in the 88th minute. Finally, Varga thwarted Spiess in the 89th minute on a break-in when Spiess didn't quite get all of the ball.

The Billikens out-shot Duquesne (5-4-1 overall, 0-1-0 A-10) 13-3 and had a 9-6 edge on corners. SLU did not allow the Dukes a shot on goal in the second half. Varga finished with eight saves, while Kaufman did not have to make a save to record his fourth career shutout.

Saint Louis (5-3-1, 1-0-0) continues its eight-game homestand by entertaining A-10 foe St. Bonaventure on Fri., Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.