The SLU Billikens extended their unbeaten streak to eight games with a win over Central Arkansas, Tuesday night at Hermann Stadium. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

NCAA Men’s Soccer – Oct. 10, 202312Final
Central Arkansas (2-7-2)011
#25 SLU (7-3-2)213

Scoring Summary

TimeTeamDescription
10:44SLUChristian Buendia (3)
Unassisted goal.
13:33SLUCJ Coppola (5)
Assisted By: Seth Anderson.
52:27UCAPietro Fontana (9)
Assisted By: Sohma Ichikawa.
68:32SLUMatthew Wrobel (1)
Assisted By: Kevin Komodi.

Cedric Williams
Senior Editor

ST. LOUIS, MO — The Saint Louis University men’s soccer team began its Tuesday with some fun news, as it found out it had been vaulted into the national Top 25 rankings. The Billikens were ranked No. 25 in the newest United Soccer Coaches national poll.

Saint Louis then finished its day with an exciting win, a 3-1 victory over Central Arkansas, in a non-conference game at Hermann Stadium.

“Another challenging game. I give the defense all kinds of credit,” SLU head coach Kevin Kalish said. “I thought they worked their tails off for the full match.”

And that defensive effort was important because Saint Louis was facing one of the top scoring teams in the country in Central Arkansas, which is led by prolific scorer Pietro Fontana, who came into the game tied for 10th in the nation in goals scored with eight.

Fontana did score a goal in the second half, but was contained for most of the night by the Billiken defense. That allowed SLU to attack, which it did, and produce two goals in the first half.

Christian Buendia opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a highlight reel goal. After a corner kick, the ball was cleared out of the box by UCA and it went right to Buendia. He rifled a shot into the upper-left corner from distance to make it a 1-0 Billiken lead.

Several minutes later, CJ Coppola made it 2-0. Seth Anderson started the scoring play by maneuvering into the box. He created clearance and sent it to Coppola, who chested it over the line for the two-goal SLU advantage.

Fontana netted his goal in the 53rd minute, which made the score 2-1. But the Billikens were able to answer with a score by Matthew Wrobel, a former Atlantic 10 Conference All-Rookie selection at St. Bonaventure, who scored his first goal with Saint Louis.

That gave SLU its two-goal lead back, which the Billikens made stand to earn the win.

“I was really happy with our performance in the first half,” Kalish said. “We played well. And then in the second half, after they scored, I thought we rebounded well to get the goal and put the game away.”

Saint Louis has now won four games in a row and has an eight-game unbeaten streak. SLU has now gone more than a month without loss. The last one came at SMU on September 8.

Overall, the Billikens are 7-3-2 on the season and will look to continue their winning trend when they get back to Atlantic 10 Conference action with a game at Loyola Chicago on Saturday. That contest is scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.

2023 Saint Louis Billikens Upcoming Men’s Soccer Schedule

DateTimeAtOpponentLocation
October 14, 20233 pmAwayLoyola ChicagoChicago, Ill.
October 21, 20237 pmHomeDaytonHermann Stadium
October 24, 20236 pmHomeBlackburnHermann Stadium
October 28, 20236 pmAwaySaint Joseph’sPhiladelphia, Pa.