(Courtesy Saint Louis Athletics)
No. 9 (Soccer America) Saint Louis opened the Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Championship on a high note Thursday, defeating La Salle 3-1 in a quarterfinal matchup at Sports Backers Stadium.
With the win, the second-seeded Billikens improve to 13-2-3 and advance to Friday’s semifinal round where they will face either VCU or Fordham at 6:30 p.m. (CT). La Salle, the seventh seed in the tournament, ends its season with a 7-9-3 record.
Senior forward Kingsley Bryce gave the Billikens a 1-0 lead with a first-half goal, his fifth tally of the season. The teams went into halftime with SLU leading by the same 1-0 margin.
In the second half, senior forward Robert Kristo tallied twice to put the game out of reach. His first came in the 73rd minute unassisted. Kristo scored again seven minutes later off an assist from junior midfielder Marco Heskamp to put SLU ahead 3-0. For Kristo, is was his 12th and 13th goals of the season.
La Salle, which played a man down for much of the second half after one of its players received a red card, scored late in the match but it wasn’t enough as the Billikens took home the 3-1 victory.
SLU keeper Sascha Otte recorded three saves in the win. The Billikens outshot the Explorers 17-12 and recorded an 8-6 advantage in corner kicks.
