Sept. 4, 2009

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's soccer evened its season record Friday with a 2-1 loss to Oakland (Mich.) in the home opener at Korte Stadium.

The Cougars, 1-1, were able to tie up the score in the second half but lost the lead at 72:57 when Stefan St. Louis connected in the box off Oakland's only corner kick of the final 45 minutes. St. Louis led all players with five shots.

SIUE led the game in shots 15-12 after a sizeable 9-4 advantage during the second half.

"We came out and played our style of soccer in the second half. And unfortunately we didn't get the result," said SIUE coach Kevin Kalish.

Senior Ben Hemkens picked up his first goal in an SIUE uniform at 51:20. He scored from eight yards out off a free kick from Kevin Bielicki. That had tied the game 1-1.

Oakland, now 2-0, scored the only goal of the first half when Makesa Lewis connected from eight yards out off a pass from Brendan Symington.

SIUE pressured Oakland goalkeeper Mitch Hildebrandt, who recorded three saves. One of SIUE's near misses was a header early in the second half as Jack Twellman headed the ball from the right side to the left post, missing by mere inches.

Peter Kelly, Zach Bauer and Randy Roy led SIUE's offense with three shots each.

SIUE goalkeeper Scott Meyer posted five saves.

"There were glimpses and moments where I thought we played real good soccer, but we haven't done it for 90 minutes," said Kalish.

The Cougars also held the corner kicks edge 4-3.

SIUE is now idle for a week before it travels to Louisville, Ky., for the U of L Tournament. The Cougars face host Louisville next Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. SIUE also plays Kentucky in a 2 p.m. ET contest on Sunday.