PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Saint Louis sophomore Benny Estes scored in the 11th minute to vault the Billikens to a 1-0 victory at Duquesne Friday night in the Atlantic 10 Conference men's soccer opener for both squads.
SLU, the reigning A-10 champions, improves its record to 3-3-2 overall and 1-0-0 in conference play. Duquesne dips to 4-4-3 and 0-1-0.
Estes tallied the only goal of the game at 10:15. Freshman Jon Roeckle started the scoring play with a corner kick, and Estes headed the ball into the right side of the net for the game-winning goal. It was Estes' first goal of the season and third of his career. Roeckle collected his second assist of the season.
"I thought we played well," SLU head coach Mike McGinty said. "On our goal, Benny did a nice job creating daylight between himself and his marker and did a good job finishing. Any time you can win on the road in the league it's a good result. This should give us confidence going forward that we can win in hostile environments."
Freshman Nick Shackelford registered his fourth shutout of the season after making three saves. The SLU defense fought off 15 shots, only three of which were on frame.
The Billikens remain on the road for a Sunday match at St. Bonaventure. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. (CT)