Nov. 19, 2009

ST. LOUIS, Mo.- The Saint Louis Billikens opened the 2009 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament with a 2-1 victory over Missouri State Thursday night at Hermann Stadium. Senior James Dice and sophomore Mike Roach tallied for the Bills, and senior keeper Ross Kaufman made eight saves to secure the win.

It is the second year in a row SLU earned a victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Billikens now advance to face No. 9 seed Tulsa on Sunday at 2 p.m. Game time in Oklahoma is set for 2 p.m.

The SLU defense fought off several Missouri State chances in the early going before the Billikens cracked the scoreboard at the 9:34 mark. On a restart from roughly 45 yards, senior defender Tim Ream sent a ball in that Michael Robson got a head on. The ball bounced up to Dice, who managed to deflect it past MSU keeper Alex Riggs to put the Billikens up 1-0.

In the 17th minute, SLU went on top 2-0 when Roach connected on a penalty kick. Stephen Bortolon earned the PK by working on the right side. After entering the box, Bortolon was brought down by a Missouri State defender. Roach then buried the ball into the back netting for his 11th tally of the season.

The two squads went into halftime with the Billikens ahead 2-0 despite Missouri State holding a 12-3 advantage in shots. Kaufman was sharp in making seven saves in the opening half.

Missouri State struck first in the second session, as Heath Melugin got the Bears on the board with a goal in the 50th minute. Jordan Hoffman fed Melugin the ball from the right side, and Melugin fired a rocket that deflected off the bottom of the crossbar and over the goal line to cut MSU's deficit in half at 2-1.

In the 67th minute, Dice nearly tallied the third Billiken goal, but his header bounced off the turf and just over the MSU crossbar. The Bears had two strong chances in the 71st minute but pushed the first shot aside, and Kaufman came up with a sparkling save, his eighth of the evening, to keep the Billikens on top. In the waning moments, the Bears had two more scoring chances misfire, and the Billikens held on for the victory.

The Billikens improve to 15-6, while the Bears end their season with a 12-5-2 mark.

Charlotte Ties UNCW 1-1; Seahawks Advance in Penalty Kicks

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Penalty were the deciding factor in the showdown between intrastate squads with UNC-Wilmington (14-2-5) advancing to the second round with a 4-1 advantage on penalty kicks over Charlotte (11-3-6) after the game ended in a 1-1 tie after double overtime. Charlotte's Adam Gross scored first in the game with his 28th minute strike, while Daniel Roberts added a goal for UNCW in the 81st minute to tie the game and send it into extra periods.

UNCW now advances to play Wake Forest in the second round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"We defended extremely well tonight and we never looked that we were going to concede a goal and as a unit we played excellent defensively," stated Charlotte head coach Jeremy Gunn. "Going forward offensively we struggled and as a result we didn't play our best soccer."

The game was played in tough conditions as a thick layer of fog crept over the field for the majority of the game and at times was almost impossible to see. The fog cleared for the majority of the second half allowing fans and players to see the whole field.

"It was an exciting game for us and we were proud to be in the tournament, which our program hasn't been in for over ten years," stated senior midfielder Adam Gross. "We brought back a tradition to Charlotte's program with coach Gunn leading us and our fans were great tonight because throughout the game you knew they were there and behind us the whole time."

Gross' goal in the 28th minute was the ninth of the season for the senior midfielder and gave the Niners the opening lead. The goal pushed the Austin, Texas native into a tie for 19th place in the all-time career points with 51.

Both teams had chances to change the score during the rest of the first half, but all attempts were stopped by the goalkeepers and the game remained in Charlotte's advantage at game break.

In the second stanza, the 49ers nearly upped their advantage to 2-0, when Jennings Rex received a through ball from midfield, but the freshman was unable to score due to an outstanding save by UNCW goalkeeper Brock Duckworth.

With ten minutes remaining in regulation, Charlotte committed a foul in front of their penalty area about 25 yards out. The Seahawks' Roberts stepped up to take the kick and curled the ball into the left corner past a diving David Martin to knot the game at 1-1.

Neither team was able to muster another goal before the end of regulation and the game went into overtime, which was Charlotte's sixth overtime game of the season and UNCW's seventh.

In the extra periods only two shots were taken both by UNCW and only one reached frame, but was saved by Charlotte's Martin. Both teams had scoring chances with two corner kicks apiece, but neither team converted and the game was settled by penalty kicks.

Shaun Utterson tallied the deciding penalty kick for the Seahawks, who went 4-for-4 in penalty kicks after Charlotte missed on their first and third attempts. This was the second-straight game in which Charlotte has failed to advance in a tournament after tying the match in the Atlantic 10 Tournament with Rhode Island and falling in penalty kicks.

"Tonight the whole school was behind us and we had a great crowd we have no excuses as we just didn't get it going like we usually do," added Gunn. "Our players and staff can look back on the season however and say what a tremendous season we had. Even though it is a disappointing ending our players should be proud of what they accomplished."