ST. LOUIS - Tulsa notched the golden goal with 5:05 left in the second overtime to topple Saint Louis 4-3 tonight in front of a Homecoming crowd of 4,771 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Sophomore Stephen Bortolon scored two goals and assisted on another for SLU.
Saint Louis (3-4-0) jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage, but Tulsa (4-3-1) responded with three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead late. Bortolon tallied in the 79th minute to send the game into overtime before Tulsa's Ashley McInnes ended it in the second OT.
"This is a tough one to swallow," Billikens head coach Dan Donigan. "Tulsa did a good job to fight back after going down 2-0, then we did a good job fighting back late in the game. I thought we had good chances in overtime, but those fell by the wayside and next thing you know they had a chance and made good on it with a very savvy play by their forward. I think we did enough to get that result, but that is the way the game goes sometimes and you have to give Tulsa credit."
The Billikens benefited from two goals in the first eight minutes to take command early. Their first goal came on a corner kick started by Bortolon. He served the ball into the center of the box where freshman Jacob Brown leaped to get a head on it. He deflected it to freshman Michael Robson, who was stationed at the near post. Robson, who was making his second career start, re-directed the ball into the upper netting for his first career goal and a 1-0 Billiken lead.
The Bills got their second goal less than five minutes later. Freshman Alex Sweetin had the ball in the middle of the field, and led freshman Nick Maglasang who was racing up the right side. Maglasang collected the ball and ran parallel with the end line before finding a streaking Bortolon in the box. With a defender close on his tail, Bortolon slid and got a boot on Maglasang's centering pass, burying the ball into the back of the net for a 2-0 SLU advantage.
Tulsa got on the board in the 32nd minute when Austin Neil tallied his first goal of the season. Ashley McInnes had the ball near the six-yard box, but turned and found Neil from about 10 yards out. He found an open look and fired a shot that glanced off a SLU defender, but the momentum carried the ball over the goal line to cut the Golden Hurricane deficit to 2-1.
The teams took that score into halftime. At the break, Tulsa was out-shooting the Billikens 7-2 and held a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.
In the second half, Tulsa took the lead with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart. At 65:22, McInnes notched the equalizer on an assist from Kilian Poeschk. Just a bit later, McInness unleashed a rocket that got past SLU goalie Mark Pais to give Tulsa a 3-2 advantage.
Bortolon tallied an equalizer at 78:56 after a superb individual effort. He controlled the ball in the middle and carried it into the left side of the box. After nearly losing possession, Bortolon split a pair of defenders and continued to the middle of the box, where he unleashed a 14-yard drive that found the back of the net and knotted the game at 3-3.
That remained the score into overtime, where the Billikens had two legitimate chances to win it. Sweetin fired from point-blank range in the first overtime, but Tulsa keeper Andy Aguilar stood tall to make the save. In the second overtime, Bortolon had an open look at the goal but had the ball poked away before he elected to shoot.
Tulsa out-shot the Billikens 24-8 and managed an 11-7 advantage in corner kicks. Pais made a career-high eight saves for the Billikens, including several dazzling saves late in regulation.
Saint Louis returns to action Wednesday, Sept. 30, when UMKC comes to Hermann Stadium for a 7 p.m. tilt. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a free Billiken blue soccer T-shirt.
