No. 18 Billikens Tighten Grip On C-USA Title Race

MEMPHIS -- Eighteenth-ranked Saint Louis University topped Memphis 1-0 in overtime tonight in a crucial Conference USA men's soccer match at Echles Field. Sophomore forward Nick Walls scored in the 104th minute to back the goalkeeping of John Politis, who posted his sixth consecutive shutout.

"We dug down deep tonight, which is all you can say when you play nearly 50 minutes down a man," Billikens head coach Bob Warming said. "You can talk about character, heart, leaving it all on the field, conditioning ? it was all evident tonight."

The match was evenly played until a controversial event seemingly swayed the momentum of the match to the Billikens. Saint Louis freshman sensation Brad Davis received a yellow card for wearing a crucifix. Billikens head coach Bob Warming attempted to sub for Davis, but was not allowed. When play resumed, Davis dribbled right in front of the scorer's table and received another yellow for playing the ball without having left the field of play. Davis' second yellow resulted in his ejection at 59:50.

In his conversation with the referee in an attempt to straighten the situation out, Warming also was ejected. From that point on, Saint Louis picked up its intensity, while Memphis seemed to fall into a lull. "It was different," was all Warming would say.

Politis sent the game into overtime with a crucial save on a blast by Memphis leading scorer Sean Fraser with only 32 seconds remaining in regulation. "John made about three world class saves tonight," Warming said. "He played a wonderful match."

The winner came at 103:34 off a Billiken corner kick, which rebounded out to senior midfielder Brian Hadican. Hadican served across the field to the far post where SLU defender Joe Hammes out-leaped the Tigers' defense to get his head on it. Hammes redirected the ball to Walls who neatly chested it and volleyed an eight-yard shot to the back of the net.

Politis stretched his shutout streak to 606:14 and lowered his season goals against average to 0.23. The Billikens' single-season record for GAA is 0.45 by Rob Vallero in 1974. The Bills also continued their success in overtime this year by improving to 3-0-2 in games going to extra sessions.

The Billikens are 10-3-2 overall, 5-1-1 in league play and moved closer to the regular-season C-USA title, while Memphis is 11-5-0 and 5-3-0. Had Memphis won, the Tigers would have captured the regular-season league title and home field for the C-USA postseason tournament. The Billikens need a victory or a tie in the regular season finale at South Florida on Fri., Nov. 3, to clinch their third-consecutive regular-season C-USA title.