ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis junior Chase Niece scored twice to lift the Billikens to a 2-1 victory over McKendree Saturday at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
 
The Bills improved to 2-0 on the young season with the victory. McKendree, which advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament a season ago, dipped to 0-1.
 
The Bearcats got on the board first early on when Diego Tapia-Fraites ripped a shot into the upper left corner in the sixth minute, giving McKendree an early 1-0 lead.
 
Niece scored his first goal of the game as time was winding down in the opening half. With the clocked stopped with just seconds left, SLU keeper Patrick Schulte took a free kick and sent it into the box. John Klein headed it up, and Niece was there to head it home to tie the score at 1-1.
 
It was Niece again in the 65th minute for the game-winner. Mason Leeth backheeled a Patrick Weah corner kick that a McKendree defender was forced to clear off the line. The rebound came right to Niece, who buried it with authority for the 2-1 SLU advantage.

The Billikens return to action next Saturday when they travel to Milwaukee to take on Marquette.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
MCK | 5:25 | Diego Tapia-Fraites (Eddie Davis)
SLU | 44:59 | Chase Niece (John Klein, Patrick Schulte)
SLU | 64:34 | Chase Niece (Mason Leeth)

SLU STARTERS
Patrick Schulte, Chandler Vaughn, Chase Niece, Christian Buendia, Sam Rowan, Patrick Weah, Simon Becher, Keaton Schieffer, Patrick Wilkinson, Mujeeb Murana, Jack Bessey
 
SLU SUBSTITUTES
Caleb Iverson, John Klein, Brian Johnson, Stefan Stojanovic, Mason Leeth, Chris Alwang, Erich Legut