ST. LOUIS – Bolstered by a first-half offensive spurt – two goals within three minutes – along with a strong defensive back line throughout, top-seeded Saint Louis (14-0-4) outpaced a physical No. 6 Duquesne (10-7-2) squad in the Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship final, preserving the Billikens' undefeated record behind a 2-1 victory over the Dukes Sunday afternoon at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
With the victory, SLU secures the program's third overall Atlantic 10 Championship and first since the 2012 campaign. Additionally, the Billikens clinched the A-10 automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and will discover their official seeding Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET via a selection show on NCAA.com.
Notably, the upset-minded Dukes bolted out to an early lead at the 13th minute behind a well-executed set piece, dropping the Billikens into a home deficit for the first time all season. Following a Saint Louis foul just outside the right side of the box, the freshman duo of Ryan Goodhew and Jayden Da found paydirt for Duquesne, as the former arched a free to the back-left post before the latter connected for the header and the 1-0 advantage.
In spite of the first-time home shortfall, the Billikens only trailed for all of nine minutes and 22 seconds before junior Simon Becher – the 2021 A-10 Offensive Player of the Year – cleaned up a rebounded shot from Isaiah Parker with a one-touch tap-in. Parker, who took a long-distance attempt from just outside the box, forced a diving deflection off to the right from Duquesne keeper Domenic Nascimben, setting up a waiting Becher for his 12th score of the year.
The Saint Louis attack continued in earnest across the next two-plus minutes, culminating in in a skipped shot from Christian Buendia just inside the right post and in for the eventual game-winning goal. With the box fully loaded between Dukes and Billikens alike, Nascimben struggled to find the redshirt freshman's try until the last second, falling just short on his diving attempt.
On the final stat sheet, Saint Louis proved more dominant than the one-goal final margin might suggest, as the Billikens outgunned Duquesne by significant margins in every major offensive category, including shots (22-to-8), shots-on-goal (11-to-4) and corner kicks (12-to-0). Between the pipes, SLU keeper Patrick Schulte proved near-perfect as he racked up three saves on the day with one score surrendered while the Dukes' own Nascimben registered a 2021 A-10 Championship-best nine saves with two goals allowed.
For the Atlantic 10 All-Championship team, Becher, Schulte and Goodhew were joined by SLU teammates Chandler Vaughn, Chase Niece, John Klein and Mujeeb Murana, and Duquesne forward Nate Dragisich, Rhode Island's Patrick Agyemang and Edvin Akselsen, and Fordham's Luke McNamara. Schulte, who concluded the three-match stretch with eight saves, two shutouts and just one goal allowed, earned recognition as the A-10 Championship Most Outstanding Player.