From the SLU Billiken website: Alex Sweetin’s goal in the 79th minute against SIUE broke a scoreless tie and lifted the Saint Louis Billikens to a 1-0 win Saturday in a men’s soccer exhibition match at AB Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo.

“It’s always positive to get a win, but I don’t think we started terribly well,” first-year head coach Mike McGinty said. “As the game went on we got better as the guys found some rhythm and got more involved. The second half was definitely better than the first. I again would like to thank AC St. Louis for helping to make this game happen. It was a fun night of soccer.”

SIUE out-shot the Billikens in the match, but it was Sweetin’s goal at 78:04 that proved to be the difference. Charles Bryce carried the ball just outside the box, where he found a wide-open Mike Roach on the right side. Roach passed up a shot, and fed an even more wide-open Sweetin, who buried a shot from the top of the box for the game’s only goal.

Billiken keeper Mark Pais played all 90 minutes and made eight saves, several of them from point-blank range. No word on whether any of our three local representatives made an appearance although I did see a picture of Devon Newport on the pitch in the last exhibition game. Anyone with news on that front?

Saint Louis moves to 1-0-1 in its five-match spring exhibition season. The Billikens are next in action Wednesday, April 14, when they host Missouri State at 7 p.m. at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. All spring matches at Hermann Stadium are free and open to the public.

The Post-Dispatch also has an interesting article on new SLU Head Coach Mike McGinty titled Mike McGinty takes control of SLU soccer that pretty well defines the content of the story.