Marquette University Athletics
Marquette University
Saint Louis
Saint Louis Downs Men's Soccer, 2-1
11/3/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 3, 2001
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Fourth-ranked Saint Louis earned a 2-1 victory over Marquette in a Conference USA men's soccer match. Marquette falls to 9-6-1 overall and 4-4-0 in C-USA. Saint Louis improves to 13-1-0, 8-1-0 C-USA and earns a share of the C-USA title.
The Billikens got on the board in their first possession, which resulted in a corner kick. Brad Davis' serve was headed by defender Mike Kirchhoff from the near post to the far post where senior Bobby O'Connell knocked it in at 1:22. It was the first goal of O'Connell's career in his first career start.
Marquette nearly tied it two minutes later, but was denied as SLU senior keeper John Politis made a leaping save to tip a header by Eagles defender Tom Nolan (Palatine, Ill.) over the crossbar. Politis and his defense frustrated the Eagles on a number of occasions as the night wore on.
Davis set up his second goal of the night in the 13th minute as Dipsy Selolwane, the nation's leading scorer, scored his 19th of the season. Davis sent a low, screaming serve into the Marquette penalty area, and Selolwane slipped by a Golden Eagles defender for a four-yard volley that eluded MU keeper Adam Ubert (Hartland, Wis.).
Marquette answered at 13:50 on Bryan Godfrey's 25-yard drive that banged off Billiken defender Mike Kirchhoff and ricocheted over Politis into the upper right corner.
"We started poorly, but we got better once we got involved in the match," said MU head coach Steve Adlard. "We had some decent chances later in the match, we just couldn't pull the trigger at times. We outplayed them in the second half and I think they were aware of that."
Marquette's best opportunity to tie the match came in a scramble in the Saint Louis penalty area in the 48th minute. Golden Eagles forward Sean Reti (Brookfield, Wis.) cut in all alone on Politis, but was denied by the SLU keeper. The rebound came right back to Reti, but SLU senior sweeper Marty Tappel cleared his second shot off the Billikens' line. That rebound went to Mike Robards at the right post, but Bills senior defender Tim Sartori blocked his shot.
"Give Marquette a lot of credit in that second half, because they made it a very direct game and they have some big people that are hard to handle," Donigan said. "But our defense met the challenge. Marty Tappel, Jason Cole and Tim Sartori play 90 minutes every night and don't get enough credit for our success."
Marquette outshot the Bills 11-9 and had a 9-7 edge in corner kicks. Politis ended with three saves, but his best play of the night wasn't recorded as a save. When MU forward Chris Lee (Lenexa, Kan.) stripped Tappel in the second half and broke in on Politis, the veteran keeper dived and swiped the ball off Lee's foot before the striker could get a shot off. Meanwhile, Ubert didn't make a save all night.
Marquette continues its season on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at South Florida.
