Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer

Saint Louis Billikens
men's soccer
Saint Louis Billikens; men's soccer
Founded	1959; 65 years ago
University	Saint Louis University
Head coach	Kevin Kalish (5th season)
Conference	Atlantic 10
Location	St. Louis, Missouri
Stadium	Hermann Stadium ; (Capacity: 6,050)
Nickname	Billikens
Colors	Blue, White, and Grey;
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

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.

Despite the long soccer tradition in the city of St. Louis, the University did not field a varsity team until 1959, when the Billikens won the first NCAA soccer championship held. With Bob Guelker as coach, the team achieved a 11–1 record that season. They defeated the University of Bridgeport 5–2 in the championship game.^[1]

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.

Players

Current roster

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

Notable alumni

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^[4]
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.

1990s–present

Mike Sorber (1992) — 67 caps playing for the U.S. national team; played 7 professional seasons from 1994 to 2000 in Mexico and then in MLS
Brian McBride (1993) — scored 30 goals for the U.S. national team; played several seasons in the English Premier League
Shane Battelle (1993) — played 3 professional seasons from 1994 to 1996
Matt McKeon (1995) — played 7 seasons in MLS; 2 caps with the U.S. national team
Brad Davis (2001) — currently plays for Houston Dynamo; 17 caps with the U.S. national team
Dipsy Selolwane (2001) — played 4 seasons in MLS; played for the Botswana national team
Jack Jewsbury (2002) — has played in MLS since 2003; last played for the Portland Timbers in 2016.
Vedad Ibišević (2003) — played in the German Bundesliga for various clubs from 2006 to 2020; played for Bosnia at the 2014 World Cup
Will John (2004) — played 3 seasons in MLS before moving to play in Europe
Tim Ward (2004) — played 8 seasons in MLS
Martin Hutton (2004) — 2 seasons in MLS from 2005 to 2006
John DiRaimondo (2006) — played 3 seasons in MLS from 2007 to 2009
Brandon Barklage (2008) — played 7 seasons in MLS from 2009 to 2015
Dado Hamzagić (2008) — played professionally two seasons in Bosnia from 2009 to 2011
Tim Ream (2009) — several professional seasons in MLS and in England; 50 U.S. national team caps, including every minute of the team's four games in the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Chad Vandegriffe (2012) — played professionally in USL, MISL, and MASL
Chase Niece (2022) who last played for North Texas SC. Who currently a free agent.
Kipp Keller (2022) played for Austin FC in MLS.
Isaiah Parker (2022) played for FC Dallas in MLS.
John Klein III (2023) – played for St. Louis City SC in MLS..

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.

Coaches

Current staff

As of May 8, 2021

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 Chaplain	Christian Zombek, S.J.

Last updated: January 1, 2023
Source: Here

Head coaching history

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

NCAA Dominance: 1959–1974

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.

St. Louis winning NCAA tournament seasons
Title No.	Title season	Regular season	NCAA tourn.	Total record
1	1959	8–1-0	3–0	12–1–0
2	1960	11–1-0	3–0	14–1–0
3	1962	9–0-1	3–0	12–0–1
4	1963	10–0-0	3–0	13–0–0
5	1965	10–0-0	4–0	14–0–0
6	1967	5–3-1	3–1	13–3–2
7	1969	9–0–0	4–0	13–0–0
8	1970	10–0-1	4–0	14–0–1
9	1972	11–2–3	4–0	15–2–3
10	1973	11–2–3	4–0	15–2–3

Modern seasons

St. Louis threaten to score against Duquesne, November 2008

St. Louis (in white) vs. Duquesne, November 2008

Previous Season's Records and Standings^[5]
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	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	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	2nd Round
2008	12–5–5	6–3	Donigan	A10	4th	Semifinals	2nd round

Honors

NCAA Division I tournament (10): 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973

Atlantic 10 Conference tournament (4): 2009, 2012, 2021, 2022

References

^ ^a ^b SLU Legends and Lore: The Billiken Soccer Dynasty on St. Louis University
^ Men's Soccer Div 1 – History (1959-2011) on the NCAA
^ "2022 Men's Soccer Roster". Saint Louis University.
^ "Leahy To Be Enshrined in Missouri Sports Hall of Fame", SLU Billikens, February 9, 2007.
^ "Previous Seasons". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.

External links

Official website

[slu-1] SLU Legends and Lore: The Billiken Soccer Dynasty on St. Louis University

[2] Men's Soccer Div 1 – History (1959-2011) on the NCAA

[roster-3] "2022 Men's Soccer Roster". Saint Louis University.

[4] "Leahy To Be Enshrined in Missouri Sports Hall of Fame", SLU Billikens, February 9, 2007.

[Seasons-5] "Previous Seasons". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.

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