Missouri State Bears To Face SLU Billikens In NCAA 1st Round Thursday in St Louis

Despite an RPI of #37, compared to the SLU Billiken’s #58 , the Missouri State Bear’s (12-4-2) will travel up I-44 for a rematch with the St Louis University Billikens in a first round NCAA game on Thursday evening. The game is scheduled for 7:00 pm in Hermann Stadium according to the SLUbilliken’s twitter account.

The teams faced each other on August 22nd this year, in a late exhibition match at Hermann Stadium in St Louis, where the Billiken’s won 2-0. The Billiken’s are 14-6 this season, coming off their first ever Atlantic 10 Conference title which offered the automatic bid.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri State earned its first outright regular season conference title this year on a 7-1-1 record in the MVC. The Bears finished the season with a 12-4-2 record, falling in overtime to Evansville in the MVC Tournament semifinals. The Bears played an exhibition match at Saint Louis on August 22 with the Billikens prevailing, 2-0. SLU holds an 8-0-3 all-time record against the Bears.

Missouri State was led by MVC Defensive Player of the Year Alex Riggs, who recorded eight of the Bears’ nine shutouts. His goals against average of 0.76 is the third-lowest season average in school history.

On the offensive side of the ball, Johannes Demarzi recorded 10 assists to lead the MVC. His assist total and assists per game rank him in the top-10 nationally. Heath Melugin and Paul Paradise each tallied five goals to lead the Bears.

The Bears have made two previous NCAA Tournament appearances in 1997 and 1999. Missouri State dropped a 2-1 decision at No. 16 UAB in 1999 and lost 2-0 at No. 14 Saint Louis in 1997.

UPDATE: The Drake Bulldogs, MVC Tournament champions and automatic NCAA qualifiers, are the only other MVC team to participate in the tournament. The Bulldogs will host Western Illinois at 7:00 pm on Thursday in Des Moines.