The St. Louis U. High soccer team continued its dominance this past week, this time in the Jr. Billiken Classic, claiming the title for the second year in a row. After starting out the tournament with a sizzling 4-0 win against Fort Zumwalt South, the Jr. Bills slaughtered the Parkway South Patriots 7-0 last Thursday for a huge boost in points for the tournament. The final and deciding contest of the tournament was against Mehlville the following Saturday. The Jr. Bills were faced with more of a struggle but were able to pull away with a 3-1 victory to retain their title for the second year in a row. 
 

Coming off a shutout against Fort Zumwalt South, SLUH looked to further their winning record in the tournament against Parkway South. The Jr. Bills came out with no mercy against the Patriots with senior Joseph Olascoaga scoring just one minute into the match off a through ball from senior Kevin Cooney. The blow shook the morale of Parkway South as they now had to make up the deficit just one minute into the game. SLUH maintained offensive superiority and possession while Parkway South’s offense made little progress up the field and their defense was no match for the Jr. Bill forwards. Ten minutes after Olascoaga’s goal, senior Jack Hulett added to the SLUH lead off of a low cross from Cooney, his second assist of the match. From there, it was a downward spiral for the Parkway South Patriots. Junior captain Grant Locker netted a goal off an assist from junior Keegan Kesterson with 15 minutes left to play. 

The FutBills went into halftime with a comfortable 3-0 lead and little doubt that they would pull off a dominant win. SLUH came out firing on all cylinders just as they did with in the previous half. Hulett scored his second goal one minute into the second half, assisted by Olascoaga. Cooney scored a mere two minutes later and again four minutes after that.With a 6-0 lead, a win was guaranteed. Parkway South couldn’t make a break with SLUH continuing strong possession that eluded their defensive front. 

“I think we did pretty well on not letting the level of intensity drop against those teams. We didn’t just drop back and defend after a few goals, we kept the offense at a high level,” said senior Noah Probst.

Senior Davis Ragan had the final goal of the game, putting the Jr. Bills up 7-0 with 23 minutes left. SLUH cruised to the finish line, enjoying the seven points that would give them a boost to win the tournament as the team that accumulates the most points wins the tournament. 

“I think the boys played really well. Could we always get better? Absolutely,” said coach Bob O’Connell. “We talk as a group often about our standard and what we want to do regardless of the opponent. Throughout the year that’s always gonna be about how well connected our lines are and how good we are in the final third.”

SLUH’s next and final game was against the Mehlville Panthers. The Jr. Bills’ smooth road to victory against Parkway South didn’t hold up against Mehlville. Mehlville put up a stronger fight, holding the Jr. Bills to a scoreless game until halfway through the first half. The Jr. Bills pushed the Panthers back to their defensive third for several minutes, swinging the ball around but not being able to create a real opportunity in front of the net. 

However, in the 19th minute, junior captain Christian Thro passed the ball to Locker who was surrounded by two Mehlville defenders. Locker skillfully turned through a small gap between the two defenders and sneaked a low shot past the keeper. 

SLUH continued their push into Mehlville’s defense for the next 8 minutes, creating several opportunities that didn’t materialize into a goal. The Panthers had their first offensive attack in a while until senior Jack Griffiths-Hill took possession and looked to distribute the ball to the midfield for a counterattack. However, Griffiths-Hill’s pass unluckily deflected off a Mehlville forward and right into the feet of another Mehlville forward who was right in front of the goal. Mehlville’s possession caught junior goalkeeper Chris Lewis off guard as Mehlville’s shot slid right past his arms and into the goal to equalize the match in the 29th minute. 

SLUH was in disbelief with Mehlville’s seemingly undeserving goal after not being scored on for the whole tournament. The Jr. Bills used their frustration as a weapon four minutes later to fuel Locker’s second goal of the game. Mehlville had a corner kick that came into the dangerous possession of senior captain Sam Tieber. Tieber made a long through ball to Locker who fought off two defenders on his way to beat out the opposing goalkeeper. 

Going into halftime with a one-goal lead over Mehlville, the status of the Jr. Bills’ victory was uncertain. Distancing the lead and securing a win in their last match would solidify the Jr. Bills as tournament champions, but the Panthers proved that they wouldn’t make it a cakewalk. Mehlville put on a relentless defensive showing, preventing the depth of the Jr. Bill offense from producing a goal. 

However, SLUH got the break they needed to guarantee their victory in the 32nd minute. After an unsuccessful run by Mehlville, senior captain Lucas Hammond dribbled the ball almost the whole length of the field and distributed it to senior Luke Conran. Conran swung the ball to Cooney, who bodied a defender and finessed the ball into the lower right corner of the net, an impossible shot for the Mehlville keeper to put a hand on.

The 3-1 victory against Mehlville secured the SLUH soccer squad the Jr. Billiken Classic championship. The Jr. Bills hoisted the trophy for the second year in a row in their home tournament with an astounding 14 goals in three matches. 

“Winning the Jr. Bill classic was a great feeling. It’s always good to win your own tournament and we did it in a fantastic way,” said Sam Tieber.

The victory made a statement to St. Louis area teams. Especially coming off previous tournament success in Kentucky, St. Louis U. High will be a championship contender this year and their opponents for the waning regular season are sure to be on high alert.

“We were all happy to win it but it was also expected from us, we were expected to win and we delivered the dub,” said senior Joseph Olascoaga. “We played a great last game against Mehlville. We dominated the game and showed them just how tough SLUH can be.”

Coming off smooth sailing in the tournament, SLUH had their sights on MCC rival St. John Vianney for their second matchup of the season. SLUH had a much more difficult time putting down the opposition compared to the Jr. Billiken Classic, but was able to seal the deal after a period of overtime. 

The fierce Vianney Griffins held back the Jr. Bills for two thirds of the first half. Both teams were able to stop multiple offensive attacks until the Griffins finally caved in after 29 minutes of fierce battling. After a quick turn of possession from Vianney to SLUH, Hammond was able to make a run up the field with the ball. Hammond passed it up to Locker who took a shot that unluckily deflected off the keeper. However, Lucas Hammond was there to take advantage of the deflection to tap it into the back of the net. SLUH stayed in the lead for halftime with a score of 1-0.

The intense battle between the Jr.Billikens and Vianney Griffins continued as the second half began. After 17 minutes into the second half, there had been some great attacks by both teams. However, even the best can make mistakes. After SLUH fouled a Vianney player, Vianney kicked a beautiful cross to the center of the box where a Vianney player scored just out of the reach of Lewis.

The disappointed SLUH team walked back to the half line and kicked off. The Jr.Bills had many chances to score but were unsuccessful. After all these chances, with 15 minutes left in the second half, one finally reached the back of the net. Tieber crossed the ball to the far post and senior captain Tommy Reh powerfully headed the ball off a bounce into the net. There were 15 minutes left in the game and it seemed unlikely that Vianney would equalize.

However, Vianney still had hope and energy to fight till the end. In the final minute, a Vianney player threw it into the box and an attackman headed the ball towards the goal. Lewis put a hand on the ball but was unable to control it as Vianney scored on the open net. SLUH was shocked and it seemed momentum had gone the other way going into the first period of overtime.

As overtime started, SLUH played with an aggressive energy that Vianney couldn’t handle. They used the frustration from the devastating Vianney goal with one minute left to their advantage. The Vianney defense could only keep back the Jr.Bills for so long. It wasn’t very long before SLUH got their chance to score. With three minutes left of overtime, Tieber gave a great through ball to Cooney, who had only the goalie to get past. He dribbled up the field and faked out the goalie, being left with an open net to seal the win against Vianney. 

“The overtime win was a challenge,” said Olascoaga. “Vianney played a good game against us and kept the game close. We were the better team and we also expected to win that game, although it was harder than we thought it would be. We prepared to win and that’s just what we did.”