UAB takes on SLU tonight. What chance do the Blazers stand? How has SLU been playing? Their schedule has definitely been tougher than UAB. From SLU's website: The UAB Series: Saint Louis leads the series 7-5-1 and has won two of the last three. The Blazers handed SLU its only regular-season loss last year with a 1-0 decision in Birmingham. The Bills are 4-0-1 all-time against the Blazers in St. Louis. In their last meeting at Hermann Stadium, SLU slipped past UAB 2-1 to claim the 2000 C-USA postseason tournament title. Scouting the Blazers: UAB (3-2-1) is fresh from winning the Birmingham Southern Tournament with victories over Navy and previously unbeaten Western Kentucky. The Blazers' attack is built around All-Conference forward Flavio Monteiro, while preseason All-Conference goalkeeper Clint Baumstark runs the defense. Head coach Mike Getman is in his 10th year with a 114-63-10 (.636) record and a 15-year career mark of 156-88-19 (.629).
Well SLU dominated this game from the gecko. Nice crowd of about 3600. SLU's defense is looking much better than it looked in the first few games. Gannon is doing a great job of manning the back and is stepping in nicely to fill Marty Tappel's shoes. Pusateri is also doing one hell of a job shutting down any attack on the left side. Kevin Wickart is a great addition but I am still wondering why this guy was a top 30 recruit. He's been good but I haven't seen anything spectacular from him. He does have a keen sense for the long ball to the forwards though. UAB couldn't get anything going the whole night. I would like to see the possession numbers because SLU seemed to hold onto the ball quite a bit out there. Having Jason Cole up front with Cooper is producing a great tandem. It hasn't shown up in the numbers just yet, but you can see the difference out there. Jewsbury has solidied our middle and has a big presence on the field. SLU is definetly beginning to gell out there. In the first three games, SLU was outscored 4-2. In the last three, it has outscored 8-2. Lastly, damn good to see Joe Hammes out there. Man he is truly a great defender and works damn hard out there.