ST. LOUIS – No. 25 Saint Louis defeated Central Arkansas 3-1 on Tuesday night in nonconference men's soccer action at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
The Billikens extended their unbeaten streak to eight and improved to 7-3-2 with the win. Earlier on Tuesday, the Bills re-entered the United Soccer Coaches national poll, checking in at No. 25 in the country. Central Arkansas dips to 2-7-2.
Christian Buendia opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a highlight reel goal. After a corner kick, the ball was cleared out of the box by UCA and it went right to Buendia. He rifled a shot into the upper-left corner from distance to make it a 1-0 Billiken lead.
Several minutes later, CJ Coppola made it 2-0. Seth Anderson started the scoring play by maneuvering into the box. He created clearance and sent it to Coppola, who chested it over the line for the two-goal SLU advantage.
The score remained 2-0 at halftime, and UCA came out firing in the second. The Bears finally broke through in the 53rd minute when one of the NCAA's top scorers, Pietro Fontana, found the back of the net off an assist by Sohma Ichikawa.
Kevin Komodi and Matthew Wrobel connected for the Bills' third goal. In the 69th minute, they converted a give-and-go and Wrobel finished to make it a two-goal Billiken lead once again.
The game ended at 3-1 thanks in part to a brilliant defensive play by Galen Flynn, who cleared one off his line while facing toward the goal.
SLU outshot the Bears 13-9 and mustered a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.
The Billikens resume Atlantic 10 Conference play on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Chicago to face Loyola Chicago. Kickoff in the Windy City is scheduled for 3 p.m.
