This is the year. The Billikens had a great season last year, except for the way it ended (in a PK shootout in the C-USA final, in case anyone doesn't remember) They actually had a decent attack (a little unusual for them ). It was certainly the most balanced attact they've ever had. Their all-time leading scorer, Jamie Perry will be a senior this season; Cigno will be a junior, and all those great freshmen they had last year...(well, you do the math). They need to figure out how to score on set plays. I thought they would last year but it didn't seem to turn out that way. The Billikens seem to have recruited some defensive players. If I recall, they only had 4 seniors last year, and two of them were starting defenders. Billikens Sign Lauren Combs (Leawood, Kan./Notre Dame de Sion) Billikens Sign Three Local Players (All Busch Soccer Club players) Feb. 12, 2004 About last year: Starting with a link to last year's thread. Attendance 14th in the Country Jan. 23, 2004 Soccer Buzz Honors Perry and Cigno Jan. 30, 2004 _________________ [font=verdana,arial,helvetica]What the heck is a Billiken, anyway? I wouldn't mind if we lost every game as long as we win the league.[/font]
Whatever happened to Ellen Gerweck? She was all everything in Nebraska, and has kind of faded into oblivion with the Bills.
I don't know what happened to Gerweck but you got me thinking (always a dangerous thing). To tell the truth, I was unaware Gerweck had been such a hot shot in Nebraska. I can read her bio, and the stats show she played in 15 games as a freshman in 2001 and had 6 starts, played in 19 games in 2002 (no starts), and played in just 2 games (both early in the season) last year (no starts). Those stats are kind of interesting but the missing piece of information is whether she was injured any of that time. More interesting to me was learning that she had some assists on long throw-ins. I will say that the Billikens have had a heck of a defense the last few years (actually, pretty much always), and they haven't had any real needs on defense. I had the impression last season that they were actually overloaded with defenders, having moved Anne Lucier, who had been a forward, to sweeper, and then having other defenders who had been injured return to form. They seemed to have some pretty decent defenders sitting on the bench. On top of that, the defense wasn't tested all that much - so, if there were any weaknesses, they weren't evident. A couple of starting defenders graduated, so maybe Gerweck will have a chance this year.
The problem with girls from Marian High School is that they play a system that is quite different from most colleges. In the latter years of her career, they were rarely pressured, I believe her senior year they didn't give up a goal until the state championship game, a national record of 20something games.
Spring schedule Code: [font=courier] [url="http://slubillikens.ocsn.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/032204aaa.html"][b]Spring schedule[/b][/url] Date Opponent Site Feb 28 Kentucky Memphis T, 0-0 Feb 28 Georgia Memphis W, 1-0 Mar 27 Loyola St. Louis 11 a.m. Mar 27 Truman 3 p.m. Apr 3 SMS St. Louis Noon Apr 15 SIUE, St. Louis 7 p.m. Apr 15 Lindenwood Apr 24 Wisconsin St. Louis 1 p.m.[/font]
Yo, no action on this board since May? Or am I in the wrong place? LET'S GET IT ON! What's up with the transfers out - Cigno & Schuh? Are there any transfers in? How will the Bills fare against the stronger schedule? Any other weird news, besides a new keeper coach? What happened to Jay Z?
What tougher schedule? This is the first season in ages that they don't seem to be claiming they have a tougher. They said that so many years in a row that, if they actually had played a tougher schedule every year, their non-conference schedule should be UNC, Portland, Santa Clara and Notre Dame by now. But seriously: They play some good teams early on the road, and they may lose some of those games. They'll get over the loss of Cigno and Schuh. (the loss of the legendary Jay Zaber is another matter) Hope springs eternal. The Bills will do fine. They're going to finally win the conference tournament, since they're hosting it.
Re: What tougher schedule? The 2003 conference schedule vs. the 2004 conference schedule is probably a wash. But, come on, you don't think the 2004 schedule of Oklahoma, Illinois State, Mississippi State, Kansas, Illinois, away; and SMS, Army, Rice, and Ole Miss, at home, is a stronger schedule than the 2003 schedule of Penn, Princeton, SMS, Drury, WIU, away; and Arkansas State, Air Force, Indiana, and Vandy, at home? But, I couldn't agree more that hosting the C-USA Tourney is huge. Hopefully, the Bills will be battle hardened and ready to roll tourney time. It will be all or nuthin', again. Will they have a better record going into the 2004 conference tourney, or worse than 2003? I like your UNC, Portland, Santa Clara & ND schedule. I'd like to see UNC & Duke and Stanford & Santa Clara. A Texas and Texas A & M weekend matchup would be nice, too. Other nice, "convenient" matchups - UCLA and USC; Portland and Oregon; Michigan and Oakland; Ohio State and Dayton (a future A-10 matchup); Florida and FSU; Denver and Colorado; Alabama and Auburn (with Cigno and Courtney Crandall. I doubt we'll that one for awhile). I'd even go for IU and Evansville. The matchups are endless. I like the 2004 schedule, nice games, not much major travel.
Sorry, I'm not a troller, but I just have to say...GO CARDS!!! Our first exhibition for the fall is at home against the University of Nebraska to honor Jenna Cooper, a Louisville native. I believe its August 17. That should be the start of a great season of C-USA soccer, not to mention our last. Time to go out with a bang.
Re: Louiusville Cardinals??? How nice for Jenna! SLU ought to do that for their out of town players. Oh wait a minute, there are none. I know, I know everybody always forgets about the keepers.
Last night's game It was a lot like a preseason game. Attendance was helped by the presence of Lindenwood fans. Billikens romp past Lindenwood Lindenwood is a good NAIA team but the Billikens are a good DI team. The result was predictable. The Billikens being a good DI team is the point I was trying to make earlier in this thread when discussing the "toughness" of the Billiken schedule. The title of this article: Women's Soccer Faces Six NCAA Tournament Teams is hype (not that there's anything wrong with hype). The Billikens should be playing six NCAA tournament teams. They are as good or better than a number of tournament teams and they need to play teams better than they are if they want to get better. This year's schedule is not touhger than last year's, and it's not tougher than it should be. As I said, the Bills are good enough that they should be playing good teams. Back to last night's game. SLU outshot Lindenwood 31 to 2, had 8 corners to Lindenwood's none. The three Billiken keepers made no saves to 9 by the Lindenwood keeper and 2 by the team. The game wasn't as close as the score would indicate. It's difficult to tell much from a preseason game like this but the Billikens still have a decent attack. (they really didn't lose any attackers and may actually have added some) They have always had a good defense and there's no reason to believe they don't still have one. Scoring: SLU 10:08 Courtney Hulcer (Kelly Ferguson) SLU 13:23 Dee Guempel (Jamie Perry) SLU 16:45 Ferguson (Tara Gresco) SLU 29:43 MaKensie Johnson (Lachlyne Eastman) LU 42:19 Becky Ryan (Casandra Clamors) SLU 53:18 Hulcer (Ferguson) SLU 60:26 Perry (Guempel) SLU 61:44 Gresco (Ferguson) SLU 65:19 Eastman - unassisted One encoruaging thing was that the Bills did something they haven't done a lot of in recent years: score on corners. In fact, they did it twice. Att: 763 The game in honor of the late Jenna Cooper set an attendance record for Louisville. Cards and Huskers Pack Cardinal Park to Honor Jenna Cooper Hopefully, CUSA as we know it will, as you say, go out with a bang. Go Billikens! "I wouldn't mind if we lose every game, as long as we win the league."
Re: Last Friday's game Go Billikens! Greetings all!!!! The other half of the Statler and Woldorf (check the spelling please) of St. Louis U Soccer is in the house!!! I'm afraid though I may be mellowing after hitting the ripe old age of 25. I really have no true complaints about the exhibition held 5 days ago. Ok maybe the one goal was a lil soft, but by the time it was scored things were already out of hand to say the least. I was a little concerned before the match because if it turned out to be a "good game" (for those few in attendance) it would have showed a great many holes in the SLU team. However by blowing out what should be a quality NAIA team (they are ranked #7 in the preseason ranking on http://www.naia.org/wsoccer/ratings/2004/preseason.html ) it proves that they could be a very good team this year. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again I really really think this could be the year the Lady Bills make it to the National Tourament!!! Go Billikens!
Billikens at Oklahoma on Friday Oklahoma Picked To Finish Seventh In Big 12 Sooners Open Season At Home Friday Useless information department: Oklahoma made the NCAA tournament last year for the first time ever. They lost in the first round 0-1 to Tennessee. They finished the season with an 8-6-5 record and a Jones rating of 1685 (#52 rank), while the Bills were 14-5-3 with a 1604 Jones rating (#71 rank). In the Soccer Buzz Central Region preseason rankings the Bills are 13 and Oklahoma is 14.
Billikens Tie 1-1 at Oklahoma Sooners Tie Saint Louis In Opener (soonersports.com) box score Oklahoma 1, Saint Louis 1 (2OT) Code: [font=courier] OU SLU shots 15 18 corners 6 5 offside 0 0 OU SLU yellow cards 2 3 [/font] Weather: 91 degrees, clear skies Attendance: 644 SCORING: 40:18 OU Michelle Enos (Shana All) 52:46 SLU Jamie Perry (Kelly Ferguson)
Billikens drop game at Illinois State despite out-shooting the Redbirds 19-9. Aug. 31, 2004 stats 'Birds defeat Billikens Aargh! SCORING: 25:13 ISU Heather Forsyth (Michelle Brumbaugh) 61:42 SLU Maureen Hughes (Jamie Perry) 72:10 ISU Joyce Kleinheinz (Michelle Brumbaugh) Next up: the Kansas invitiational, against Mississippi St. on Friday and Kansas on Sunday, before returning to Hermann Stadium next Wednesday for a game against SMS.
This seems to hurt the Billikens every year - losing to a team rated very low the previous year. Despite finishing strong last year, they missed out on the NCAAs due to, I believe, a poor schedule (out of conference, and CUSA was not very strong last year as well). I have a feeling this loss will hurt them come NCAA selection time (unless they win the CUSA tournament!!). Cincy will struggle this year, with five freshman getting significant playing time. They don't have the injury bug they had last year, but they still make too many mistakes in the defensive end, and that always ends up hurting you.
Each year I have the same feelings of confidence and sure enough we drop a road game to a team that we probably shouldn't lose to. It's so frustrating, but I will say this. We must beat kansas, mostly cause I truly despise them. It's odd though cause last year SLU had a far better record but Mizzou made it in basically due to strength of schedule (the joys of playing in a power conference eh). XYZ is there any chance now of us making it besides winning the CUSA tourament???? I'm doubtful to say the least
I agree with everything you say. It does seem to happen every year. It's a little early to say the Bills can't get an at-large bid, but the loss to Illinois State isn't going to help. Last year my feeling going into the conference tournament was that they had to win it to get in the national tournament. As BearcatFan says, C-USA was not strong last year, so the chances of the conference getting two tournament bids were slim and none. Playing a team like I-State is great, but only if you win. If you're going to lose, you might as well play UNC and lose to them because that would at least help your RPI. And nobody is going to hold a loss to UNC against a team, whereas they probably are going to hold a loss to I-State against them. But if the Bills can beat Kansas and/or Illinois, and if C-USA teams do well out of conference, I wouldn't rule out an at-large bid - at least not yet. Well, at least they beat Mississippi St. yesterday. If they had lost that game they'd really be in deep doo-doo as far as their chances of an at-large bid go.
Billikens Blank Mississippi State Sept. 3 at Lawrence, Kansas stats _________SLU___Miss. St. Shot_____ 15 ____ 6 Corners___ 5 ____ 3 Saves_____ 5 ____ 7 Offsides__ 8 ____ 1 Fouls____ 11 ___ 12 YC________ 1 ____ 1 Attendance: 108 SCORING 48:52 SLU Kelly Ferguson (Courtney Hulcer)
Billikens Fall to No. 17 Kansas Jayhawks Defeat Saint Louis to Win Tournament stats photos SLU 0 at Kansas 2 Sep 05, 2004 St. Louis U: ____________ Gensler Hulcer _ Kornfeld _ Sinclair __ Gresco Ferguson _ Eastman _ Perry _ Guempel _________ Hughes ___ Winchel __________ SLU _ KU Shots _____ 11 __15 Corners ____ 8 __ 2 Saves ______ 6 __ 7 Fouls _____ 11 __10 Offsides ___ 1 __ 0 Attendance: 816
Billikens Blank SMS 2-0 in Home Opener Guempel assists on both goals. Sept. 8, 2004 Stats SLU ___________________Martin Kornfeld __ VanMatre ___ Gresco ___ Sinclair _Hulcer ___ Ferguson ___ Perry ____ Guempel ___________ Winchell ___ Hughes SAINT LOUIS 2, SMS 0 ____________ SLU __ SMS Shots _______ 25 ___ 6 Corners ______ 6 ___ 2 Fouls _______ 17 __ 15 Saves ________ 4 __ 12 Offside ______ 2 ___ 0 (that's what the score sheet says, but I'm pretty sure SLU was offside 3 times, not that it matters) Attendance: 829 Weather: Clear, 75 degrees, delightful Scoring: 55:07 Maureen Hughes (Dee Guempel) 59:47 Cassi Winchell (Guempel)
Articles in the University News: Kornfeld shows swagger By MARLENA JENTZ September 09 Bills shoot down Bears By THOMAS W. DELANEY September 09