Michigan Loses Tough Road Battle Against Saint Louis

Saturday, October 1

St. Louis, Mo.

7:00 PM CT

Michigan

6-3-1

Saint Louis

3-4-1

Michigan

Saint Louis

10/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The University of Michigan men's soccer team lost a 2-1 battle to the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday (Oct. 1) at Hermann Stadium. This was U-M's first meeting with the Billikens as a varsity program, and SLU broke its two-game losing streak with the win.

The Billikens got off to a blazing start, forcing senior Peter Dzubay (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview) to make four saves, giving up one goal. The first goal of the game came at the 14:03 mark when Dado Slu Hamzagic beat Dzubay with a header from six yards out. One of Dzubay's biggest saves came about 28:00 into the game, when a Saint Louis player got a clean look with a header, forcing Dzubay to parry the ball wide of the goal. The Wolverines were not able to put much pressure on Billikens goalkeeper Jeff Sackman in the first half, only taking two shots, with each either going wide or high.

Opening the second half down 1-0, the Wolverines started off with great intensity, and senior Ryan Alexander (Southfield, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) forced a scoring opportunity, only to miss wide. The Michigan offense continued to draw from the intensity, forcing two corner kicks, while on defense they picked up three fouls from attacking the ball, all in the opening 10 minutes of action. Another scoring opportunity for the Wolverines came at approximately the 60:00 mark, when Alexander got a ball played in from senior Adam Bruh (Roslyn Heights, N.Y./Wheatley) at the center circle. Bruh played it into Alexander, giving him the chance to find a seam on the right side of the 18-yard box, where he struck a beautiful ball on target, forcing Sackman to make a good save.

The hard work for the Wolverines paid off at the 76:56 mark when their offense drew a SLU foul, allowing Bruh to take a free kick. He beat Sackman from 28 yards out, giving Michigan its lone goal.

A little under three minutes later, Saint Louis had an answer for the Wolverine goal. Their goal came in similar fashion, when Michigan was called for a foul, giving the Billikens the opportunity for Danny Wynn to take a 35-yard free kick and beat Dzubay for the go-ahead goal.

The Wolverines will host the No. 5-ranked Indiana Hoosiers next Sunday (Oct. 9) at 2:30 p.m. on the U-M Soccer Field.

GAME SUMMARY

Team	1	2	F
Michigan	0	1	1
Saint Louis	1	1	2

Scoring, Time (Assist)
1st -- SLU, Dado Slu Hamzagic, 14:03 (Kyle Patterson, John DiRaimondo)
2nd -- U-M, Adam Bruh, 76:56 (unassisted)
2nd -- SLU, Danny Wynn, 80:01 (unassisted)

Shots: U-M 9, SLU 14
Saves: U-M 7 (Peter Dzubay), SLU 2 (Jeff Sackman)
Corner Kicks: U-M 6, SLU 6
Fouls: U-M 15, SLU 12
Cards: SLU, Casey Spiess, 18:12 (yellow); SLU, Chad Haggerty, 36:23 (yellow); U-M, Alex Morrisset, 36:23 (yellow)

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Steve Burns
On the game ... "The players showed great character in this game. The unfortunate reality of it is, I employed the wrong tactics in the game. The first half we sat in and tried to play them off the counterattack and we were a little shell-shocked trying to organize all their movement, and they scored a goal 15 minutes in before we really figured out how they played. Then the second half we stepped up and adjusted the tactics, we stepped up much higher and pressed them and kept the ball on their end and created quite a lot of chances and defended quite well on their counterattack and that really was the difference in the game. They had the first half, and I thought we controlled the second half, but the difference was the first-half goal."

On how the loss affects the mindset for next Sunday's game ... "Tears and sweat are both salty -- one gets you sympathy and the other gets you results. And this team will continue to work toward results."

Contact: Joseph Conrad (734) 763-4423