 Billikens Set for NCAA First-Round Match Against Missouri State
Nov. 18, 2009
What's on Tap?: Saint Louis welcomes Missouri State Thursday, Nov. 19, for an NCAA Tournament first-round matchup at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. What's on the Line?: The winner of Thursday's matchup will travel to Tulsa, Okla., to face the No. 8-seed Tulsa Golden Hurricane in second-round action Sunday, Nov. 22. First kick will come at 2 p.m. Following the Action: Tickets for the NCAA Tournament game are $8 for adults, $6 for children and SLU students who show a valid SLU ID. Fans can follow live on GameTracker, and the match will be video streamed for a fee. Follow the links on www.slubillikens.com for more information. In addition, campus station KSLU will stream audio for free at kslu.slu.edu. A-10 Champions: Saint Louis (14-6-0), which is making its fourth straight and unprecedented 46th appearance overall in the NCAA Tournament, earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by claiming the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship Nov. 15 with a 2-0 victory against Dayton. It is the first A-10 Tournament championship for the Billikens since joining the league in 2005. Since 1991, the Bills have captured nine conference championship titles (two Great Midwest championships, six Conference USA championships and one A-10 championship). It is SLU head coach Dan Donigan's fourth conference championship in nine years at the helm, having also led the Bills to C-USA titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003. A Glance at the Billikens: Saint Louis is led in scoring by sophomore forward Mike Roach, who has tallied 22 points (10G, 2A). He registered two goals and an assist in the A-10 Championship to draw Most Outstanding Player accolades. Senior defender Tim Ream, who was named to the All-Championship team after notching the game winner against Rhode Island in the A-10 semifinals, follows with 15 points (6G, 3A). Junior midfielder Stephen Bortolon has 10 points (3G, 4A), while freshman midfielder Alex Sweetin leads the team with six assists. Senior keeper Ross Kaufman anchors a defense that has allowed eight goals in the last 12 games.
A Glance at the Bears: Missouri State (12-4-2) earned an at-large bid into the NCAA field after winning its first outright regular-season conference title with a 7-1-1 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. Heath Melugin and Paul Paradise have scored a team-best five goals apiece, while Johannes Demarzi has recorded a league-best 10 assists. The Bears' defense is anchored by keeper Alex Riggs, who was tabbed the MVC Defensive Player of the Year. His 0.76 goals against average is the third-lowest average in school history. Head coach Jon Leamy is 187-129-33 in 18 years at Missouri State. The Bears, who are looking for their first NCAA Tournament victory, also appeared in the NCAAs in 1997 and 1999. Series History: The Billikens own an 8-0-3 series advantage against the Bears. The two squads met in the NCAA Tournament in 1997, with the Billikens prevailing 2-0. The two squads met Aug. 22 in exhibition play, with the Billikens coming away with a 2-0 victory at Hermann Stadium. All-Conference Honors: A total of six Billikens earned All-Conference honors. Senior Tim Ream was voted Defensive Player of the Year and named to the first team, while freshman Alex Sweetin earned Rookie of the Year honors. Sophomore Mike Roach was named second-team All-Conference, while senior Josh Aranda earned honorable-mention recognition. Aranda also joined Roach and Ream on the A-10 All-Championship team. Freshman Benny Estes and Sweetin were voted to the All-Rookie team, while keeper Ross Kaufman earned a spot on the All-Academic team. National Nods: In addition to drawing Most Outstanding Player honors following the A-10 Championship, sophomore forward Mike Roach was named to the National Teams of the Week by Soccer America, TopDrawerSoccer.com and CollegeSoccerNews.com. Playing for Keeps: Sunday's win to secure the A-10 Championship was the 33rd career victory for senior keeper Ross Kaufman, which moves him into third place all time on the career goalkeeping wins list. The win vaulted him past John Politis (1998-2001) and Martin Hutton (2002-04), who each had 32 wins during their careers. A-10 Honors: Four Billikens have been selected A-10 Player or Rookie of the Week this season. Most recently, freshman defender Jacob Brown earned A-10 Rookie of the Week honors after notching the game winner against Temple and helping the Bills post a pair of shutouts against the Owls and Saint Joseph's. Senior defender Tim Ream and freshman forward Alex Sweetin were named co-Player and co-Rookie of the Week, respectively, Oct. 12. Ream collected six points (3G) in wins against Richmond and George Washington, while Sweetin scored a goal and assisted on another in the two games. Freshman midfielder Nick Maglasang was named A-10 Rookie of the Week Sept. 14 after scoring a goal and adding an assist to help the Billikens to a 3-1 victory against Loyola Chicago at Toyota Park. Game of Firsts: A number of Billikens have recorded career "firsts" in games this season. On Nov. 6, freshman defender Jacob Brown notched the first goal of his career in the 1-0 win at Temple. Senior defender James Dice scored his first career goal in the Fordham tilt Oct. 23, senior keeper Ross Kaufman garnered his first career assist on the game winner against La Salle Oct. 25. Freshman forward Benny Estes tallied his first career goal in the Charlotte game Oct. 17. Freshman forward Alex Sweetin scored his first career goal Oct. 11 against GW, while senior defender Tim Ream notched his first career game winner Oct. 9 versus Richmond. Against Clemson Oct. 3, sophomore midfielder Alex Johnston recorded the first goal of his career with the overtime game winner. On Sept. 30 against UMKC, Ream registered his first career goal with a PK strike in the second half. In the Sept. 26 match against Tulsa, junior midfielder Stephen Bortolon scored twice and added an assist for the first points of his Billiken career, while freshman midfielder Michael Robson tallied the first goal of his career. Ream Nets Three Weekly Accolades: Following the most productive offensive weekend of his career, senior defender Tim Ream earned three weekly nods after totaling three goals in SLU's victories against Richmond and George Washington to begin league play. The A-10 selected Ream as its co-Player of the Week, while CollegeSoccerNews.com named him to its National Team of the Week. Finally, Soccer America honored Ream with a spot on its Men's Team of the Week. Ream entered the season with four career points (all assists) but has found the back of the net four times already this season. He is second on the SLU scoring chart with nine points (4G, 1A). Dan's Day: Ninth-year head coach Dan Donigan boasts a 117-41-23 career record. His season-opening .711 win percentage made him the fifth-winningest active head coach in the country. Donigan has led the Bills to the NCAA Tournament in seven of his nine seasons at the helm. In the last four seasons combined, Donigan's Billikens have posted a 51-18-12 overall mark and a 29-6-1 ledger in A-10 regular-season games. He has a 6-5-1 record in NCAA Tournament games. On the Sidelines: For the first time in school history, the Billikens are benefiting from a full-time goalkeeper coach as Tim Kelly was brought on board this summer. Dave Beck returns for his fourth season, his first as the lead assistant, and former Billiken Brian Grazier is in his first season as senior graduate manager. In addition, U.S. National Team assistant coach Mike Sorber is again serving as a volunteer assistant coach. New Look Billikens: Saint Louis has fielded 12 players who did not see playing time in a Billiken uniform last season. Included in that group are seven players who have drawn starts for the Billikens this season. Transfer Time: Sophomore forward Mike Roach, who spent two seasons with the Indiana men's soccer program, has returned to his native St. Louis and leads the Bills with 10 goals. After appearing in 18 matches for the Hoosiers in 2007, Roach took a redshirt season in 2008, thus giving him three years of eligibility with the Billikens. Junior midfielder Stephen Bortolon transferred into the program from St. Bonaventure last season and is third on the squad with 10 points (3G, 4A). Preseason All-American: Senior defender Tim Ream earned a spot on CollegeSoccerNews.com's third-team preseason All-America squad. Ream has garnered All-Region accolades from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) the past two seasons. In addition, he has received All-Conference accolades in each of his three seasons with the Billikens, drawing second-team plaudits the past two years after earning All-Rookie recognition as a freshman. Drawing Praise: Saint Louis' newcomer class was ranked 10th by Soccer America and 16th by CollegeSoccerNews.com. The Bills also placed a league-high four players on the Atlantic 10 Conference 2009 preseason All-Rookie team: Benny Estes, Nick Maglasang, Mark Pais and Alex Sweetin. Maglasang and Sweetin were tabbed as two of "100 Freshmen to Watch in 2009" by CollegeSoccerNews.com. |
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