St. Louis U. Billikens - 2002 edition The schedule has been released. They play the normal C-USA opponents. In addition, they play Connecticut, Vanderbilt, Idaho St., Western Illinois, Drury and either Arizona or Youngstown St. They're also going to be the 4th team in the Military Acadamies Soccer Classic this year, which will be at Hermann Stadium, (yea!) and not at St. Louis Soccer Park. The Bills will play Army and Navy, at least. I'd love to see the Billikens win that bloomin' tournament. Will THIS be the year the Bills make the NCAA tournament? Last year wasn't, as became painfully obvious early in Last year's Billiken thread. (which seems to have disappeared) Whew, boy! Hope springs eternal. More later. Go Bills!!
The Billikens I would like to see the Billikens crush their opponents this year, drive them from the field of play, and hear the lamentations of their fans.
Re: The Billikens Me too. They didn't do a lot of that last year - not their worst season ever, but certainly not their best, either. Soccer women slated for exciting season by Joe Alberts OF THE UNIVERSITY NEWS But of course. Players to watch will be Kehl, Burke and Perry. It's the senior year for Kehl and Burke, perhaps the two best players the Bills have ever had. Kehl is capable of beating several players at once. And she can shoot. Due to injuries to frontrunners, she was forced to play forward quite often the last year. She's better as an attacking mid. Burke is imposing in goal. Based on last season, the Bills need help, especially on defense. They could also use a big target player up front. (As I recall last season, they stunk on set plays - Perry and Kehl are among the best goal-scorers the team has ever had, but they aren't exactly intimidating. At 5'9" Lucier towers over them.) The Bills' defense was pathetic at times last year, let's face it. It got so bad that they went to using 5 backs for a couple of games. That helped the defense but they didn't generate a lot of offense that way. Whoa, boy. They did have a lot of injuries last year. Hopefully the Bills will do a lot better this season. Hope springs eternal.
You can read about Meghann's summer fun with the Memphis Mercury on the Billikens site, she has some 'diaries' on there, two last I saw. Go to the womens soccer page and I think they are under features or something. Fun, light reading.
Thanks, fanmaster, for pointing that out. I just read them. Here are the links: From the St. Louis U. website: Goalkeeper Meghann Burke's adventures in the W-League. July 5, 2002 Goalkeeper Meghann Burke catches her breath in the W-League during a midseason break. July 16, 2002
Trio of Transfers Bolsters Billikens Three local players return to their hometown Billikens for 2002.
Picked to finish 5th in the conference?? What a travesty!! Just kidding. I can't argue with that. They have a lot to prove, and the didn't prove it last year. (the poll is in the preseason poll thread.) But the Billikens do have 3 players on the pre-season All-Conference team. 2002 C-USA PRESEASON AWARDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR Kate Gordon, Sr., F, Marquette ALL-CONFERENCE Meghann Burke, Sr., GK, Saint Louis Anne Dalecky, Sr., D, Marquette Amanda Duffy, Sr., F, East Carolina Kate Gordon, Sr., F, Marquette Heather Herweh, Sr., D, Cincinnati Kristen Jensen, Jr., MF, Marquette Jenny Kehl, Sr., F/MF, Saint Louis Briana McCarty, So., D, UAB Jamie Perry, So., F, Saint Louis Tasha Wagner, So., MF/D, Cincinnati Tricia Wiles, Sr., F, Southern Miss And that's in a 14 team conference. Whew! That's a lot of teams! "Baby, we got teams" I don't think there's another conference in the country with more teams. There are so many they don't even play them all each season. Hopefully, the Bills will prove the CUSA coaches wrong and win the conference title. After last season, we have to hope their defense will come together this year and they will be a more balanced attack, as well - maybe give Kehl and Perry a little more help putting the ball in the net.
Yea. A fun player to watch. From the Oklahoma website: Billikens score victory over Sooners in preseason action Aug. 23, 2002 Code: [font=courier]SCORING SUMMARY: Time Team Goal Scorer Assists ------------------------------------------- 16:05 STLOUIS Anny Lucier Unassisted 89:42 STLOUIS Christie Cigno Jenny Kehl[/font] Date: Aug 23, 2002 Attendance: 281 Weather: Hot and Sunny (Temperature 100 degrees)
Bills open regular season Women's Soccer Blanks Drury in Opener Sophomore Jamie Perry nets a hat trick for the Billikens. Aug. 30, 2002 Bills 3, Drury zip No comment on the game except that it was pretty one-sided, which was what we were expecting. Code: [font=courier]SCORING SUMMARY: Time Team Goal Scorer Assists 25:07 SLU PERRY, Jamie ZAEGEL, Katie/2 KEHL, Jenny 49:27 SLU PERRY, Jamie KEHL, Jenny 63:19 SLU PERRY, Jamie LUCIER, Anny[/font] Drury (0-1-0) vs. Saint Louis (1-0-0) Date: Aug 30, 2002 Attendance: 988 Weather: Clear, 79 degrees Two assists by Jenny Kehl gives her the all-time Billiken record, surpassing the record set by Trisha Underberg (in the years 1996-1999). The Bills play at Vandy on Sunday, and host the Military Acadamies Soccer Tournament next weekend.
Billikens Top Vandy 1-0 in OT From the Vandy website: Women’s Soccer Drops Season Opener to Saint Louis in Overtime, 1-0 Game photos For anyone who might want to see what the SLU away uniform looks like: Erin Schwetye Scoring SLU: Tressa Peecher (Christie Cigno) Code: [font=courier] VU SLU Shots 17 9 Corner Kicks 7 4 Fouls 7 10 Offsides 0 1 Saves 7 6 Cards 1 0[/font] The Bills play Army and Navy, at home this weekend at Hermann Stadium.
I'm not sure what CUSA is like but i was at the game and you had real problems generating any offense. None of your shots were threatening and Vanderbilt dominated possession.
This doesn't surprise me. Thanks for the comment, anyway. I've been at every home game since the start of the SLU women's program in 1996, and their attack has never impressed me all that much. In the first few years of the program, Trisha Underberg (ol' # double zero) was good, but she was really an attacking midfielder, not a forward. The Bills had so many problems on defense one year, they used Underberg as a sweeper and, as a sweeper, she was the best attack the Billikens had. (she wasn't much of a sweeper) Katie Stewart was awesome on free kicks, but she was really a defensivie mid, and her ball skills were suspect. Jenny Kehl was moved to forward a couple of years ago because, as a midfielder, she was the only player on the team that showed an ability to finish. If you ask me, if your best finisher is a midfielder (or your sweeper, as was the case with Underberg in 1998), you've got problems. The Bills have never had a threatening attacking presence at forward (unless you count Kehl or Underberg, who were really midfielders).The closest thing is probably Perry who, in some ways, is the 'real deal' but she can't do it alone. The best years the Bills had were built arond the defense, led by Kelly Young and Kathleen Shager but, with them gone, the Bills have struggled - having neither a solid defense nor a threatening attack. The Bills' defense was so shaky last season that they actually went to 5 backs for a while - it helped the defense, but they didn't generate any offense that way. Even with Jamie Perry, the Bills will have to prove to me that they can score goals. And their defense has a lot to prove, too, although I'm sold on GK Meghann Burke, who I expect to see in the WUSA next year.
Yeah Burke was very solid. Good in the air certainly which is mainly how Vandy was attacking. Your coach subbed a great deal too. Don't know if it was the heat or depth. God knows your roster is huge.
Oh, yea. Meghann Burke is for real. She deserves a look on the national team, if you ask me. And certainly the WUSA. The roster IS huge. I don't know if that's good or bad. I don't know how many they take on road trips, but they had over 30 players dressed Friday night. That's a lot of players.
Thanks for the Insight about the Bills. They are coming to Memphis the 20th to play U of M and now we have some things to 'notice'. We are hoping to get a big crowd there, while U of M is the 'home team' with Annika Moller of the Mercury, Meghann Burke was a huge hit here the last two summers playing GK for the Mercury and doing outstanding, so I would imagine there will be fans for both sides (even living in Memphis we will be rooting for the Bills). We will have some pix of the game on the Mercury fan website!
"sizzling Billikens" Before we get too excited I'd like to see them beat some better teams. But, from what we've seen so far, there is reason for hope. The 6th Annual Military Academies Soccer Classic (at Hermann Stadium in St. Louis) Navy Midshipmen 2 Air Force Falcons 1 St. Louis U. Billikens 2 Army Black Knights 1 Cigno Sparks Women's Soccer Past Army The Bills totally dominated the first half, then went into a defensive shell, way too early to suit me. They let Army back in the game and Army replied, "thank you very much" and darn near tied the game. Somehow, the Bills managed to hold on, but not by much. The second half was interesting, a little too interesting. The Bills used a lot of subs, and a lot of their freshmen got a good deal of playing time. They looked good. This definately is a much better Billiken team than they fielded last year. Saint Louis 2, Army 1 September 6, 2002 Attendance: 1076 Weather: Clear, breezy, 85 degrees Code: [font=courier]SCORING SUMMARY: 0:52 SLU 6 CIGNO, Christie (28 SCHWETYE, Erin) 16:21 SLU 6 CIGNO, Christie Penalty kick 77:05 ARMY 23 PASCUCCI, Jennifer (10 BROWN, Delaney)[/font] The Billikens play Navy on Sunday and Army will play Air Force. A few more stories: Navy Women's Soccer Remains Unbeaten, Gabarra Wins 100th Navy beats Air Force, 2-1 And, from last week: Burke Named C-USA Defensive Player of the Week
I noticed that Lindsay Potrafke did not play in the game against Army. I watched her play both HS and club in Cincinnati and was wondering if she is injured, or if the St. Louis coach is giving the freshmen more opportunities. It does seem as if the St. Louis team is improved this year, and I am looking forward to their visit to Cincinnati later this year.
Potrafke played in the game against Drury (just about everybody did), but not in either of the last two games. I don't know if she's injured or not. But, against Army the Bills used 19 players out of a roster of over 30. So a number of players didn't play. Potrafke's a forward and the Bills were playing with only one forward in the second half. A number of freshman, as well as a transfer student, are getting significant amounts of playing time. Kara Kornfeld, a transfer from Indiana, seems to be a starter at back. Kelly Ferguson and Christy Cigno, both freshmen, started in midfield, making Jenny Kehl a forward, as is Jamie Perry. If they go to the bench for a forward, they seem to be going to Anny Lucier (a junior) first. Another freshman, Lachlyne Eastman seems to be getting playing time as well. The coach, Tim Champion, was quoted in the local paper as saying that he expects to be using several freshmen as starters.
The Billikens may have sizzled today, but they lost 0-1 to Navy. It was hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk but, despite outshooting the Midshipmen 17-4, the Bills couldn't score. It wasn't for lack of chances. Navy Blanks Billikens for Tourney Title. Season-opening three-game win streak snapped. Sept. 8, 2002 Finley's Game Winner Extends Navy Women's Soccer Winning Streak 9/8/2002 BTW, BearcatFan, one of the forwards the Billikens used today was Lindsay Potrafke. In the other game Army defeated Air Force 2-0. Schachtler Scores a Pair of Goals in Leading Women's Soccer to 2-0 Win over Air Force
The Billikens should get a pretty good test this weekend when they play Connecticut (ranked 12th in the latest NSCAA poll). Women's Soccer Faces Program's First Top-10 Team That headline on the Billiken website was based on the previous week's ranking. Here's where UCONN is ranked in the latest polls: 12th NSCAA 14th by SoccerTimes 18th by Soccer America 23rd by Soccer Buzz So, actually, Connecticut isn't a top 10 team. Oh, well, it's still the highest ranked team the Bills have ever played. But it isn't the first time the Bills have played a ranked team. Go Billikens!!
In MADISON, Wis: Bills Blank Davidson 2-0 Sept. 13, 2002 Senior Erin Schwetye collects game winner Meghann Burke records her third shut-out of the season. The Billikens, now 4-1-0, will play #12 Connecticut on Sunday. Go Bills!!
Will the Billikens roll? With the win over Davidson, I believe the Billikens have recaptured the momentum they lost temporarily last weekend when Navy lucked out that 1-0 win despite being outshot 17-4. If it weren't for the Navy loss, the Bills would be undefeated going into the UConn match tomorrow. St. Louis can beat UConn. Think positively. It can happen! Is a new midwestern power arising?