BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Saint Louis freshman Nick Maglasang (SLUH) notched his first career goal and Mike Roach (Chaminade) added a pair of tallies as the Billikens topped Loyola Chicago 3-1 Saturday night.
The Billikens improve to 2-2-0 with the victory and now set their sights on next weekend's University of Akron Tournament, which includes contests against Florida International and the top-ranked Akron Zips. Loyola Chicago, which played to a scoreless draw at No. 6 Creighton and ousted Canisius 4-0 earlier this season, dips to 1-1-1.
"I'm proud of our guys because we played a good, intelligent soccer game tonight," Billiken head coach Dan Donigan said. "We came out to a raucous environment and Loyola was all over us early. We weathered the storm for the first 20 minutes and managed the game from then on. It was a great win against a Loyola team that is difficult to play. We feel good about the direction we are heading as we get ready for tough matches next weekend against Florida International and Akron."
Saturday night's match was played in front of a LUC record 2,211 fans at Toyota Park, the home of Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire.
"I want to thank Loyola Chicago for putting this game together," Donigan said. "It was an electric atmosphere at Toyota Park, which made for an awesome evening of college soccer. It was also nice to get a win in front of a big contingent of Billiken fans, including a group of SLU alumni from the Chicago area."
Maglasang put the first goal on the board at the 64:43 mark. Senior James Jaramillo began the scoring play with a long free kick into the box, and Maglasang corralled the loose ball and put one past Loyola Chicago keeper Peter McKeown. It was the first goal allowed by LUC this season.
That remained the score until the two teams combined for three goals in a wild final four minutes of play. At 86:26, Roach buried his first of two goals on assists from Alex Sweetin and Beau Bellomy. Sweetin's assist marked his first career point.
That goal proved beneficial, as Loyola Chicago got on the board with an own goal less than one minute later. But in the final minute, Roach scored again with Maglasang assisting on the play to give the Billikens some breathing room in the final seconds and secure the 3-1 win.
Freshman keeper Mark Pais, who was making his first career start in goal for the Bills, made three saves in the win.
The game was scoreless for the first 65 minutes, but the Billikens had the better of the scoring chances early on. Junior Stephen Bortolon fired a shot that caromed off the post, and senior Jimmy Holmes had his header cleaned up by McKeown with less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Roach had a try in the waning minutes of the half glance wide after a nice feed from Sweetin.
Overall, Saint Louis out-shot the Ramblers 16-15. The Billiken defense was strong, especially late in the game, and fought off six Loyola corners.
SLU faces Florida International Friday at 4:30 p.m. (CT) before taking on No. 1 Akron Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (CT). Both contests will be played at Lee Jackson Field in Akron, Ohio.
