Sept. 30, 2008
Box Score
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -
Both defenses dominated as the third-ranked Northwestern men's soccer team settled for a scoreless draw against No. 11 Saint Louis Tuesday night at Hermann Stadium. The tie allowed both teams to remain undefeated as the Wildcats moved to 8-0-2 while the Billikens are now 4-0-4.
The shutout was the ninth of the season for NU, tying a single-season school record and matching last year's squad. The scoreless tie was the second of the season for the Wildcats who also played to a draw with Lafayette in their only other true road match on Sept. 7.
Neither team was able to mount any sort of offensive attack in the first half as the squads combined for one shot between them, an attempt by Mark Blades that sailed high over 39 minutes into the period.
Saint Louis' closest chance at scoring came just under 11 minutes into the second half when Kyle Patterson's header hit the crossbar. Very little else occurred in terms of scoring chances for either team as Northwestern held a 3-1 advantage in shots over the first 80 minutes of play.
The 'Cats forced Billiken goalkeeper Pat Disbennett to make a pair of saves over the final 10 minutes of regulation, including one off a shot by Matt Eliason with five minutes to go where Disbennett made a diving stop with his fingertips.
Action picked up right away in the first overtime session. Saint Louis earned a corner kick under 30 seconds into the period, but the Wildcats countered. Eliason's diving header went just wide and NU earned three consecutive corner kicks, but was unable to cash in.
Northwesten appeared to net the game-winner with under four minutes to go in the second overtime period, but the Wildcats had a goal disallowed for being offsides. The Billikens had one final late chance with about a minute left. However, Dado Hamzagic's shot just missed the near post, hitting the outside of the net.
The Wildcats finished with a 10-6 advantage in shots and a 7-4 edge in corner kicks. Disbennett made four saves for Saint Louis while Misha Rosenthal wasn't forced to make any.
Northwestern is back in action at 3:30 p.m. Saturday when it returns to Big Ten play against Penn State at Lakeside Field. The contest is being televised live by Big Ten Network.