Legion1818

Here are my observations: 1- Student section was phenomenal! 2- As my mother put it, "Now I know what home court advantage looks like!" 3- Very enthused by Lisch's play. His quick return from the bloodied moment kinda solidifies his "player FOR the fans" status. SLU Marketing & Communications... are you reading this? 4- Very, very disappointed the game did not sell out. 5- Also a little disappointed by Liddell's play. Thought he gave up the ball (passes; not turn overs) when he clearly could have taken it to the rim or gone for a 3. Finally... what's the deal with that "Blue Crew Nation" flag done in the style of the old Japanese Empire flag? Kinda weird....

Legion 1818 has a new video up on our webpage as well as YouTube. Check it out at www.legion1818.org SLU!

I just thought I'd say that I had my mother and grandmother attend the game at the Gentile Center the other night. They sat in some padded seats because both are old, and thus did not sit with any other SLU fans... but both said they had a wonderful time. My grandmother now has a "crush" on Kevin Lisch as well.

Schedule of events this weekend: Friday afternoon/night: Two semifinal matchups starting at approx 5pm. 2nd game will begin 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first. Saturday afternoon/night: Clinic from teams in the West Pine Gym, followed by autograph session, all from 8am until around 1pm. MAC Hermann Trophy Presentation (College soccer's equivalent to the Heisman) beginning at 5pm in the St. Louis Room of the Busch Student Center. Will be shown live in ESPNews. Sunday: Final at 2pm.

After Vedad left SLU, he was immediately signed by Paris St. Germain of Ligue 1 in France. He did okay there for a couple months, but was then loaned to FC Dijon in Ligue 2 of France to gain more professional experience. After about a year in Dijon, Vedad was signed by newly-promoted German Bundesliga side Alemmania Aachen. While he is still fighting for a starting role, he has been contributing well. Does anyone know if he has been back to St. Louis at all recently? Or if his family even lives here anymore? Obviously, he went to Roosevelt HS, so he must retain some connections with St. Louis still.

Whether or not all you guys are heading over to Vito's for some special 21+ drinks or not, but Legion 1818 has our traditional tailgate tomorrow at 5pm if you are interested. Hell, just come by, grab some food and go to Vito's for a drink before the game. We'll have mainly hot dogs and chips. Maybe burgers. We'll see.

I just want to elaborate on something I stated in my first post. The NCAA does NOT allow any form of artificial noisemakers to be used during NCAA sanctioned events (ie: the tournament, not the regular season). This means that Legion 1818 cannot utilize the drums and horns that most people have either come to love or hate. Whatever your take, the point is that Legion 1818 is at a significant disadvantage, and we need to remedy the situation. Although we will be just as loud vocally and through clapping, we are going to need to FILL our section on Wedneday night to help our Billikens progress in the tournament. This is a call to action. Everyone on this board is a SLU fan. Some are more bball, others soccer, while some are simply here to talk about all. But whatever your situation, I'm asking that you all make the conscious effort to make it out to Hermann Stadium so that we can ALL help our beloved Billikens bring back the 11th National Championship ON OUR HOME FIELD! Let's make this happen.

Get pumped Billiken fans. SLU takes on Northwestern in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this Wednesday at 7pm at Hermann Stadium. After receiving a first-round bye, SLU faces an NU team that beat Cincy 3-0 over the weekend, and has come a long way over the past couple of years, considering they had previously NEVER won a Big 10 conference game. They've got some talent, no doubt, and this is the second staright, and second time ever they have made it into the Tourney. We've been given the home field advantage for this one, and Legion 1818 plans to make good use of it, even though the NCAA bars any form of "artificial noisemakers," so we'll just scream louder, and clap longer. Legion 1818 will be having our traditional FREE BBQ at 5pm in front of Griesedieck Complex with hot dogs, chips and drinks to get pumped up for the game. Come out beforehand and join the rest of the Billiken faithful. Also, Legion 1818 will be buying 35 tickets to give out to the first 35 STUDENTS who attend the BBQ and game. Since the game is NCAA's, SLU has to charge $7/adult, $5/youth and $5 for students. But we want people to go for free, and that's why we've offered this to the students of SLU. AND FINALLY! As SLU is hosting the College Cup in December, Legion 1818 is making it our mission to ensure that SLU brings back the 11th National Championship to this university on our home field. LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN! GO BILLIKENS!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you our Men's and Women's soccer programs, both 2006 qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament. Our Women's team has finished the year as A-10 Champions, and have received their second straight invite to the NCAA Women's Tournament. They now have a first-round battle versus Drake University on Friday night AT HOME IN HERMANN STADIUM! The Men's program has capped off a stellar regular season by going undefeated in conference play, and only having one blemish at the conference tournament. Having one of the best schedules in the nation, SLU took on some of the best, and came out with some wonderful results. Having received a #11 seed in the Tournament, SLU now has a first-round BYE, and faces the winner of Cincinnati/Northwestern on November 15th AT HERMANN STADIUM. Gametime will be 7pm for that one. Legion 1818 would like to congratulate both teams on their accomplishments this year, and hope better and greater results are forthcoming. Legion 1818 will also be present at EVERY HOME GAME THAT SLU WILL PLAY IN BOTH TOURNAMENT'S! This includes the women's game versus Drake, and the men's game versus Cincy/NU. Depending on results, we hope to see many more games being played at Hermann Stadium this month, and hope to see our Billikens playing at SAS Park and Hermann Stadium on Dec. 3rd in the National Championship matches. Any questions comments can be directed to [email protected] Find out general information at http://www.legion1818.org

I'm sorry. Why doesn't anyone like Chicago-style deep dish? THAT'S MY FAVORITE!

While Blue Crew members have come out to soccer games with Legion 1818, they have not come out for Blue Crew. They are simply there to support SLU. As an organization, we are dedicated to our respective sports.

Legion 1818 is the supporters group for the Billikens soccer programs. Blue Crew is the supporters group for the Billikens basketball programs. While both groups share many resources, and advice, they are two seperate entities in regards to the sports they support. In addition, SLU soccer is most certainly NOT over for either of our programs. Our men's team will almost certainly be returning home for between 1-3 NCAA tournament games, before the College Cup, and the women's program is in the same boat. Legion 1818's campaign is definitely not over. With all that said, I spoke face to face with bluecrewprez today, and I expressed my excitement for Soderberg and the Bball Billikens. I am extremely excited about Billiken athletics right now, not only considering the wonerful state of our soccer programs, but the high potential our basketball team has. I have a lot of faith that, come March, SLU will be going crazy... like no one has ever seen before.

I hope you're right, because otherwise, the A-10 is just nuts. PS- SLU's highest recent ranking in the polls puts them at 8th in the country, from the NSCAA/adidas rankings. They are 12 and 13 in the other two major polls.

>Obviously keep in mind that selection and seeding has a lot >more to it than just NCAA RPI. Of course.

While I personally do not know if the NCAA is ONLY releasing two RPI ratings, they have already released two. Whether another one is upcoming, I do not know. And yes, a few weeks ago, SLU was #9 in the RPI, but has since moved down 10 spots.

Also of equal importance to the A-10 Conference Tournament is the NCAA RPI ranking, which SLU is currently ranked #19 in the nation. While the independent polls all base themselves on results (Soccer America, College Soccer News, NSCAA/adidas), the NCAA RPI bases itself on results AND strength of schedule. Thus, SLU is hurt in this regard due to the somewhat weak opponents in the A-10. What this means is somewhat easy to explain though: The NCAA tournament is a 48-team field, with 16 teams getting a first round bye, while the other 32 teams play in the first round. SLU, currently at the #19 spot in the RPI, would NOT get a bye if the NCAA tournament started today. However, if SLU wins the A-10 tournament (or just does well enough), they can move up in the rankings, and the winning streak they've been on lately doesn't hurt either. Also, #17 San Fransisco lost TWICE this week, so they will surely lose ground. Furthermore, teams #15 and #16 (Towson & Old Dominion) are both from the Colonial Athletic Association, so... since it is impossible for two teams to win a single conference tournament, one of those two teams will surely falter, AGAIN helping SLU's chances of gaining a first round bye AND playing at home in the tournament. Now we just have to see how all the conference tournaments play out. Should get really interesting.

First, the end of the regular season: http://slubillikens.cstv.com/sports/m-socc.../102906aaa.html A couple notes: 1- Clinch A-10 regular season title with ZERO conference losses, meaning they secure the #1 seed in the conference tourney, and a first round bye. 2- Extends the team's 10-game unbeaten streak, ending the regular season with a 12-3-2 record. Second, from the A-10, the conf. tourney pairings: http://atlantic10.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer.../102906aaf.html Now, in regards to the post season, I think it is safe to say that SLU has a very good chance of getting in the tournament, even if they do not win the A-10 conference tournament. Obviously, this is most important... just getting in, especially after 2 years away from the NCAA's. However, if SLU fans and Legion 1818 want to see the team at home again, the Billikens need to win the tournament, which I believe is a very good possibility. Unfortunately, SLU has not seen the likes of Richmond or Charlotte all season, and we controversially "tied" Xavier earlier this season. Take a look at the pairings though... an interesting tidbit about host Charlotte playing in the 7:30pm game on Friday, regardless of seed... don't know how they got to do that. When SLU wins the conf. tourney, it will still be up in the air how many home games SLU will get. One would hope for two, but depending on results, we may get into the tourney, and play on the road the whole time, hopefully returning to Hermann Stadium for the College Cup by Dec. 1.

Hey... For the first time in 3 years, SLU soccer is playing extremely well. The results the team have strung together are not impressive by any means, but the bottom line is simple: they get the job done. Without a doubt, our backline has been absolutely superb. I have been thoroughly impressed by Calum all year long, and Kaufmann is probably the best goalie in the nation, only because he rarely has to do anything with the ball (sarcasm...). Add to that the REAL experience of Guffey, and the absolutely wonderful composure that Viviano has over the ball on the backline... great stuff. I also cannot get over how well Brian Grazier has been for the Billikens this year during his "comeback." His control of the ball in the middle of the field is unmatched by the opponents. Grazier has been a great contributor out of the back on attacks, and his abaility to win the 50/50 balls has been impressive. And finally... although our offensive numbers have not been staggering this year, I've been impressed with the play of Casey Spiess as well as the goals being scored by Tim Ream. Some fantastic finishes have been made this year. Let's hope we can continue our unbeaten streak, bring home a conference title, tour the nation will putting the beat down on during the tourney, and return to the beautiful oasis known as Saint Louis University and Hermann Stadium to win the program's 11th national title on December 3rd. And then it's basketball season baby.

Indeed. Very thorough, and positive, analysis of Billiken bball. I've never said this before, but I'm excited about the new basketball season at SLU. Things look very promising.

For all you Billiken fans: There happens to be a SLU soccer game at 7pm tomorrow night versus Xavier. It's ending in time Madness to start. I suggest hitting up our tailgate at 4:30pm and making a night out SLU sports. 7pm gametime versus Xavier 4:30pm FREE BBQ in the lower qusd of the Village

>Hard to compete against KU's madness, but thanks to Blue >Crew Prez and his troops ours will be OK. Wish I could be >there. Will bet Billiphan won't be....or at least admit it's >himself. I don't think you know BlueCrewPrez very well... "He" may not exactly be all you have thought of.....

I wanted you all to know this, if you haven't heard already. St. Bonaventure is the patron saint of BOWEL MOVEMENTS. Furthermore, the university's athletic teams wear BROWN. Please discuss.

That's all up to the Athletic Department. That has nothing to do with Legion 1818. Sorry.

So the Billikens got off to a great start to the A-10 conference soccer schedule with a 1-0 win over Duquesne. But the party continues. This Friday night, SLU takes on St. Bonaventure at 7pm in Hermann Stadium. Legion 1818's FREE BBQ/tailgate will take place at 4pm in the Lower Quad of the Village. On Sunday afternoon, SLU faces nationally-ranked Fordham at 1pm at Hermann. There will be no BBQ that day. Come out, ONE AND ALL. Be LOUD and be PROUD for YOUR Billikens! Legion 1818 got some great compliments this past week for our activities during the Homecoming game. Don't you all wanna come join us now? See ya at Hermann.

I KNOW SluBalls had a good time! And thank you for the compliments today. I had more fun last night than the game against Indiana, and that's saying a lot considering the strength of that team. We went all out last night, and I bet everyone's throat is hurting today. But you better bet that we'll be going even stronger now that Conference play has started, and we want to make sure our Boys in White not only bring home a conference crown, but bring back #11 on our home pitch. Come out, ONE AND ALL. Join LEGION 1818. Support YOUR TEAM! The next game is this coming Friday night, 7pm at Hermann Stadium versus St. Bonaventure. We'll be tailgating as always starting at 4pm, with FREE food, drinks, chips and lots of loud music. As always, our march will be at 6:30pm, and then we start losing our voices at 7pm. See you all there!