Following the outstanding performance by the women’s squad was Billikens Men’s Soccer. This was their 40th meeting with the SIUE Cougars, with SIUE raising to ten wins against the Bills since 1969, and getting their first win since 1982. Over 8,000 people attended the game at CITYPARK, over three times as many attendees as the previous game held in St. Louis.
Despite both teams having multiple chances, the game was scoreless until the second half. The Billikens had multiple defensive plays to halt the Cougars’ attack, including a sliding save by junior keeper Jeremi Abonnel in his second-ever start for the Billikens and a header out of the box off of a SIUE free kick by junior defender Grady Easton. Abonnel’s previous start was in the season opener hosting Butler where he had five saves, holding the Bulldogs to only one goal. The French keeper was unable to hold the line in the second half, but during the 50th minute SIUE graduate forward Mitchell Murphy slid into an out-of-the-box feed by senior midfielder Andres Delascio, punching it just past Abonnel. The Cougar’s strong defensive unit often stopped SLU’s shots before they reached graduate keeper, Sam Gomez.
SLU had twelve shots in the second half, none converted to goals, and only three were saved by Gomez. SIUE put the nail in the coffin in the 72nd minute when, shortly after subbing on, junior defender Nic Muench would thread the needle to get it by Abonnel along the nearside post. The goal came off of a through pass by senior midfielder Sam Layton, his first assist of the season on Muench’s first goal of the season.
SIUE moves to 3-0 on the season while SLU falls to 1-2. Billikens Men’s Head Coach Kevin Kalish will likely make more adjustments before playing at Southern Methodist University on Sept. 8. He may choose to stick with Abonnel as the starting keeper, or he may give another chance to freshman Mason Hart, who had two saves in SLU’s 1-2 loss at Lipscomb on Aug. 29. Fans can expect individual players’ minutes to fluctuate and changes to be made to the starting lineup as the Bills try once more to find last year’s dominance. Coach Kalish is experimenting now but there shouldn’t be any cause for worry; the Billikens started last season 1-3 before going 11-2-3 en route to winning the A-10 and earning a spot in the National Tournament.