Last Saturday night (1 October), I went to Saint Louis University's Robert R. Hermann Stadium to cheer on the Billiken men against Atlantic 10 Conference rival Loyola Chicago. There was a good crowd on hand and I found my seat to await the game.
The visiting Ramblers took the lead on 14 minutes and it remained 1-0 until SLU leveled it on 47 minutes. The Billikens would win it on a fluke own goal, when a Loyola defender passing it to his goalkeeper overshot and the ball rolled into the net. SLU took advantage of this miscue to hold on to a 2-1 win. It was an odd way to win, but this Billikens fan will take it.
The next afternoon, I drove to Maryland Heights' Lou Fusz Athletic Complex to referee St. Louis Youth Soccer Association matches. I worked two under-14 matches and had the middle in the first one. The games generally went well, except for a situation in my first match where I had to send off two players for fighting. Fortunately, no other players got into it and the match ended calmly. I quickly wrote out an incident report that was turned in with the game card.
After my games, I drove to my girlfriend Julie's house in Florissant, picked her up, and drove us to SIU-Edwardville's Ralph Korte Stadium. St. Louis CITY 2 was playing Tacoma Defiance in the MLS NEXT Pro Western Conference Final. Before the match, Julie and I enjoyed the tailgate experience. The St. Louligans were set up in the parking lot, along with Saint Louis City Punks, the Thieves, and Fleur de Noise.
Before our match, we knew that Columbus Crew 2 had defeated Toronto FC 2 in the Eastern Conference final that day. Thus, Columbus would host the winner of our match. Julie and I joined with the other supporters in marching into the stadium for the match.
We were singing and chanting away from before the opening kick-off. Our constant chants paid off in the 31st minute, when CITY 2 scored to take a 1-0 lead. Tacoma nearly equalized a few minutes later, but the shot hit the post.
In the second half, two quick Tacoma shots early on were saved by CITY 2's goalkeeper. The home side doubled the lead with a 59th minute score. Tacoma pulled one back from the penalty spot 16 minutes later, but that was as close as they came. CITY 2 was Western Conference Champions. The St. Louligans--including Julie and I--went nuts.
CITY 2 plays at Columbus this Saturday late afternoon/early evening (Central Time) for the MLS NEXT Pro Championship. Julie and I plan to watch the live stream of that game.
I drove Julie and I to her home, where I stayed for a bit to chat before going home--tired, but happy.
Later.
Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:
Saint Louis University Athletics: Saint Louis University - Official Athletics Website (slubillikens.com)
St. Louis Youth Soccer Association: Home - St Louis Youth Soccer (slysa.org)
SIU-Edwardsville Athletics: SIUE - Official Athletics Website (siuecougars.com)
St. Louis CITY 2: STL CITY 2 | St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)
MLS NEXT Pro: The Official Home of MLS NEXT Pro | MLSNEXTPro.com
St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)
Saint Louis City Punks: SLCP Home (slcitypunks.com)
The Thieves: Home | Up the Thieves! (stlouligans.com)
Fleur de Noise: Fleur De Noise
