Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer

The Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Saint Louis University. The Saint Louis Billikens compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. Soccer is the main fall sport at SLU, which has not sponsored football since 1949.

Saint Louis Billikens
men's soccer
UniversitySaint Louis University
Head coachKevin Kalish (5th season)
ConferenceAtlantic 10
LocationSt. Louis, Missouri
StadiumHermann Stadium
(Capacity: 6,050)
NicknameBillikens
ColorsSLU blue and white[1]
   
Home
Away
NCAA Tournament championships
1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973
NCAA Tournament runner-up
1961, 1971, 1974
NCAA Tournament College Cup
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1991, 1997
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2021
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2021
NCAA Tournament appearances
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2021, 2022
Conference Tournament championships
1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2021, 2022
Conference Regular Season championships
1991, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2021, 2022

Noted for their dominance in men's collegiate soccer during the late 1950s through the mid-1970s, the Billikens have won 10 NCAA Men's Soccer Championships, the most of any men's college soccer program in Division 1.[2] Despite this, the Billikens have not appeared in an NCAA national championship final since 1974, and have appeared in the college cup twice since then: 1991 and 1997. Of their ten titles, nine were outright earned by the Billikens and their 1967 title was shared with the Michigan State Spartans.

During their dynasty run from the 1960s through 1970s, the team was coached by Bob Guelker during their first five championships, while Harry Keough coached the last five championship teams at SLU. Dan Donigan was the most recent head coach, serving from February 2001 until he resigned in January 2010 to accept a position at Rutgers. Presently, the Billikens are coached by Kevin Kalish.

Roster edit

As of March 24, 2024 [3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
0 GK   USA Mason Hart
1 GK   GER Carlos Tofern
2 DF   USA Carlos Leatherman
3 MF   USA Caleb Iverson
4 DF   ESP Alberto Suarez
5 DF   USA Max Floriani
6 MF   USA Christian Buendia
7 FW   USA Seth Anderson
8 MF   USA Brian Johnson
9 FW   USA Erich Legut
10 MF   USA Jack Sullivan
11 MF   DEN Mads Stistrup Petersen
12 DF   NGA Enzo Okpoye
13 FW   USA CJ Coppola
14 DF   USA Grady Easton
15 MF   USA Brogan Townsend
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 FW   USA Dylan Olson
17 MF   USA Tomas Dovidaitis
18 MF   USA Lane Warrington
19 MF   USA Jack Mika
21 DF   USA Daniel Moore
22 DF   USA Lawson Redmoon
23 MF   USA Alex Shterenberg
24 FW   USA Karson Gibbs
25 MF   USA Matteo Boasso
26 DF   USA Bryce Warhaft
27 MF   USA Tomas Dovidaitis
28 GK   ISR Yuval Sade
29 GK   USA Nate Shapiro
30 GK   USA Gavin Roberts
33 MF   USA Kevin Komodi
DF   FIN Gershon Henry

Coaching staff edit

As of May 8, 2021
 
St. Louis threaten to score against Duquesne, November 2008
 
St. Louis (in white) vs. Duquesne, November 2008
Position Staff
Head Coach Kevin Kalish
Assistant Coach Kris Bertsch
Assistant Coach Kevin Stoll
Director of Operations Constantin Heider
Volunteer Assistant Coach (GKs) Euan Morton
Team Team Chaplain Christian Zombek, S.J.

Last updated: January 1, 2023
Source: Here

Head coaching history edit

Dates Name Notes
1959–1966   Bob Guelker Won 5 NCAA championships in 8 seasons.
1967–1982   Harry Keough Won 5 NCAA championships in his first 7 seasons.
1983–1996   Joe Clarke
1997–2000   Bob Warming
2001–2009   Dan Donigan
2010–2017   Mike McGinty
2018–present   Kevin Kalish

Seasons edit

Previous Season's Records and Standings[4]
Season Overall record Conf. Record Coach Conf. Conf Rank Conf. Tournament NCAA tournament
2015 8–7–2 4–2–2 Mike McGinty A10 3rd
2014 14–4–2 5–1–2 Mike McGinty A10 2nd Semifinals NCAA 2nd round
2013 14–5–2 6–0–2 Mike McGinty A10 1st Runner-Up
2012 16–5–0 7–2–0 Mike McGinty A10 1st Champions NCAA second round, eighth overall seed
2011 6–10–1 4–5–0 Mike McGinty A10 10th
2010 9–7–3 5–3–0 Mike McGinty A10 5th Semifinals
2009 12–6–0 7–2–0 Donigan A10 2nd Champions NCAA 2nd Round
2008 12–5–5 6–3 Donigan A10 4th Semifinals NCAA 2nd round

NCAA Dominance: 1959–1974 edit

The following table shows the sixteen-year span from 1959 to 1974 in which SLU won 10 NCAA titles. In the six seasons in which SLU did not win, they finished second three times, reached the semifinals once, reached the quarterfinals once, and reached the round-of-16 once. In all 16 seasons, the NCAA tournament was either won by SLU or by the team that had beaten SLU.

NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship[5]
Year Final Semifinalists Host City Host Stadium
Champion Score Runner-up 3rd Place Score 4th Place
1959 Saint Louis 5–2 Bridgeport CCNY, West Chester Storrs, Connecticut Memorial Stadium
1960 Saint Louis (2) 3–2 Maryland West Chester, Connecticut Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn College Field
1961 West Chester 2–0 Saint Louis Bridgeport, Rutgers St. Louis, Missouri Public Schools Stadium
1962 Saint Louis (3) 4–3 Maryland Springfield College, Michigan State St. Louis, Missouri Francis Field
1963 Saint Louis (4) 3–0 Navy Maryland, Army Piscataway, New Jersey Rutgers Stadium
1964 Navy 1–0 Michigan State Saint Louis, Army Providence, Rhode Island Brown Stadium
1965 Saint Louis (5) 1–0 Michigan State Navy, Army St. Louis, Missouri Francis Field
1966 San Francisco 5–2 Long Island University Michigan State, Army Berkeley, California California Memorial Stadium
1967 Michigan State
Saint Louis (6)
0–0 † Navy, Long Island–Brooklyn St. Louis, Missouri Francis Field
1968 Maryland
Michigan State (2)
2–2 (2OT) ‡ Brown, San Jose State Atlanta Grant Field
1969 Saint Louis (7) 4–0 San Francisco Maryland, Harvard San Jose, California Spartan Stadium
1970 Saint Louis (8) 1–0 UCLA Hartwick, Howard Edwardsville, Illinois Cougar Field, SIUE
1971 Howard # 3–2 Saint Louis Harvard, San Francisco Miami Miami Orange Bowl
1972 Saint Louis (9) 4–2 UCLA Howard, Cornell Miami Miami Orange Bowl
1973 Saint Louis (10) 3–2 (OT) UCLA Brown, Clemson Miami Miami Orange Bowl
1974 Howard 2–1 (4OT) Saint Louis Hartwick 3–1 UCLA St. Louis, Missouri Busch Memorial Stadium

Notable alumni edit

1950s–1980s

  • Mike Shanahan (1960) — Played on 1959 and 1960 championship teams
  • Carl Gentile (1965) — Played with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League; earned 6 caps with the U.S. national team
  • Pat McBride (1967) — Played 10 seasons with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League; earned 5 caps with the U.S. national team
  • Al Trost (1970) — Played with the St. Louis Stars and other teams in the North American Soccer League; earned 14 caps with the U.S. national team
  • Pat Leahy (1972) — Played on three of the school's national championship soccer teams; placekicker for the NFL's New York Jets from 1974 to 1992 & Jets' all-time leading scorer[6]
  • Joe Clarke (1975) — Played professional soccer for 7 seasons, including stints with NASL's St. Louis Stars and MISL's St. Louis Steamers
  • Jim Kavanaugh (1985) — Played in the Major Indoor Soccer League; co-founder and CEO of World Wide Technology.

Michael Stumpf SR. Proud father and sales employie at World Wide Technology

1990s–present

Note: The number in parentheses indicates the year the player graduated from SLU; for those who didn't graduate from SLU, the number indicates the last year they played for SLU.

Honors edit

1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967(co-champion) 1969, 1970, 1972, & 1973
2009, 2012, 2021, 2022

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Colors and Fonts". Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Men's Soccer Div 1 – History (1959-2011) on the NCAA
  3. ^ "2022 Men's Soccer Roster". Saint Louis University.
  4. ^ "Previous Seasons". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Leahy To Be Enshrined in Missouri Sports Hall of Fame", SLU Billikens, February 9, 2007.

External links edit