EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A crowd of more than 1,800 were on hand Tuesday at Korte Stadium to take in the latest edition of the Bronze Boot game between SIUE men's soccer and Saint Louis men's soccer.
In the end, it was Saint Louis who remained the holders of the boot with a 4-1 win over SIUE.
The loss snapped a four-game unbeaten streak for SIUE which dropped to 3-2-1. Saint Louis improved to 2-3-0.
"We're glad that this game is on the docket," SIUE Head Coach Cale Wassermann said. "It's a local rivalry with two quality teams."
The Billikens took a 2-0 lead to halftime after opening the scoring with a penalty kick in the 32nd minute. A goal in the 44th minute gave them the two-goal advantage.
Saint Louis scored two more times, three minutes apart, in the second half to extend the lead to 4-0.
Pau Palacin extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with a penalty kick for the Cougars' only goal in the 59th minute.
"Between the 18's and chance-wise we were very good," Wassermann said. "We didn't finish chances and SLU capitalized on some set pieces. It was a penalty kick, two long throws and a goal kick which led to a goal."
The Billikens edged the Cougars in total shot 9-8, but SIUE outshot Saint Louis 5-3 in the second half.
"I give SLU credit they finished their chances," Wassermann added. They had a good direct game plan. For the bulk of the game, we kept the ball and we created chances."
Wassermann commended his team on its relentlessness despite the score.
"We have guys fighting for minutes, we rotate our lineups, so everybody wants to show well," he said. "We don't give up anything without a fight. We know in another game if its 3-2 or 4-3 we have to have that mentality."
The Cougars open Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday at Evansville.
"You want the result, but as we look forward to conference play, if we play like that and manage a couple more moments we could be a very good team."
