SLU Men's Soccer Thread

[hmart23]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:27 PM, brianstl said:

It would be nice if that St. Louis City renaissance included fixing pot holes sometime before summer.

agreed lol. blew a tire in forest park not that long ago

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, hmart23 said:

agreed lol. blew a tire in forest park not that long ago

Yeah, I don’t ever remember it being this bad for this long.  It is awful.

[SLUBALLS]

Great site to read about projects happening in an around Centene Stadium and near SLU.  Hopefully this is reflective of a true resurgence in the downtown West and Mid-Town areas:

https://www.cityscene-stl.com/

Map of the projects as well:  https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1KzDGi7dvQy4DqFjK0sHnlj3w3FM&ll=38.63032109893717%2C-90.20774326216191&z=16

 

 

[courtside]

SLU has added Freshman transfer Grady Easton from SMU. 

Grady is a former U19 FC Dallas Academy Captain and starting Center Back. He previously played for Texans SC, out of Houston, which merged with Rise. (SLU commit Marcos Moore’s club) Former top 100 recruit nationally. He had good showings playing with North Texas (USL)

Lots of size at 6’3, distributes well out of the back, good footwork. 

He is a former college teammate of SLU’s Lane Warrington. 

[courtside]

SLU Men’s Soccer Schedule:

https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule/2022

Some regional rivalry return games as expected, from last season, at Louisville, at Creighton, home for SMU. SLU will play frequent past opponent, Marquette at home, giving them an additional Big East game.

Lipscomb won the ASun and was an NCAA team last year.

Other notes, the exhibition game with Omaha, former SLU head coach Bob Warming recently retired as Omaha’s head coach. SIUE is recruiting well. Steve Bode takes over at Loyola Chicago this year. SLU gets the Ramblers at home. Bode has a lot of FC United connections, where SLU recruits often, as well as in Milwaukee.

 

[wgstl]

Also

 

 

 

heard a rumor that STL city 2 may be playing a game in the new stadium first now. 

 

[FromDaEastSide]

20 hours ago, wgstl said:

Also,

heard a rumor that STL city 2 may be playing a game in the new stadium first now. 

 

CITY2's last home game on Sept 18 has also been venue TBD since the schedule came out. My bet is that CITY wanted to have a club game as the first match rather than Golden Boot. 

[Lord Elrond]

Still, the idea of an annual game between SLU and SIUE at Centene Stadium seems a good one.  Between the two schools, they could probably fill the place, the City SC owners should be looking for other events to host there, and a soccer match is better than a concert or something. If we could year after year fill the place, it would raise the profile of both schools, raise the profile of St Louis as a soccer town, and give another date that the owners of City SC can fill up their stadium, and since it’s a soccer match no need to reconfigure the place like they may have to do for some other non-soccer event. This could be a win-win for everyone, SLU, SIUE, City SC, the city of St Louis, and if you get ESPN to broadcast it, raise the profiles of both the A10 and the OVC.  All we have to do is fill the place….

[Taj79]

what does Centene seat?

22,500.  never mind.

[SLUBALLS]

I hear news on the recruits for 2022 should be coming out soon but one can easily see the amount of roster turnover between the fall and spring. Lots of talent to replace although the guys that played vs Indy this spring looked very strong this past spring. 

[Cowboy II]

-should be ranked in the preseason polls, right?

[courtside]

18 hours ago, SLUBALLS said:

I hear news on the recruits for 2022 should be coming out soon but one can easily see the amount of roster turnover between the fall and spring. Lots of talent to replace although the guys that played vs Indy this spring looked very strong this past spring. 

I can help with a few of those questions. 

Grant Calvert transferred to Belmont, along with Sam Rowan. Chris Bruch retired from soccer. Leeth transferred to Kentucky after a brief trial with Sporting KC II.

[courtside]

4 hours ago, courtside said:

I can help with a few of those questions. 

Grant Calvert transferred to Belmont, along with Sam Rowan. Chris Bruch retired from soccer. Leeth transferred to Kentucky after a brief trial with Sporting KC II.

At last count, I believe it will be 13 new players for SLU this season, including Warrington who played this Spring. (9 Freshmen and 4 transfers.)

The latest transfer is Enzo Okpoye, a 6’2 Center Back from Yale. First Team All Ivy, and an All Region player. Helped lead Yale to its first outright Ivy League Title in 30 years with a strong defensive performance. 

Student Athlete Courage Award Winner for his on and off the field performance, overcoming a challenging environment in Nigeria, getting diagnosed with Malaria, and having multiple early career injuries. Enzo also has a knack for big goals in big moments from a Center Back position.

 

[SLURadioBoy]

On 6/30/2022 at 1:20 PM, courtside said:

At last count, I believe it will be 13 new players for SLU this season, including Warrington who played this Spring. (9 Freshmen and 4 transfers.)

The latest transfer is Enzo Okpoye, a 6’2 Center Back from Yale. First Team All Ivy, and an All Region player. Helped lead Yale to its first outright Ivy League Title in 30 years with a strong defensive performance. 

Student Athlete Courage Award Winner for his on and off the field performance, overcoming a challenging environment in Nigeria, getting diagnosed with Malaria, and having multiple early career injuries. Enzo also has a knack for big goals in big moments from a Center Back position.

 

Would you soccer insiders consider this to be a really good recruiting class for SLU? I’ve been trying to follow the program more closely the last year, but am still learning. I am very intrigued by the goal scoring numbers for Karson Gibbs, but wasn’t sure if he would be an immediate contributor out of the gate since he’s only a freshman.

[courtside]

1 hour ago, SLURadioBoy said:

Would you soccer insiders consider this to be a really good recruiting class for SLU? I’ve been trying to follow the program more closely the last year, but am still learning. I am very intrigued by the goal scoring numbers for Karson Gibbs, but wasn’t sure if he would be an immediate contributor out of the gate since he’s only a freshman.

Yes. It’s a very good recruiting class. 

First, several returning players that didn’t play much or even at all last year, are very good, and, will play quite a bit. That part is less talked about and perhaps overlooked by some. But the returning players can play. That’s the first thing to know. Legut, Floriani, Moore etc…along with several players who played more often. 

Three of the transfers may start on the back line/will play a lot. And a couple of Freshmen will compete at wing back. There are 3 other attacking players that will play/provide depth in the attacking third.

Some SLU commits and targets also recently played in the MLS Next Cup in Dallas, as well as ECNL Playoffs in San Diego. (St. Louis is hosting the ECNL Boys Final 8 for the 2nd straight year) A few others (and a few recruiting targets) such as Karson have been playing with stlCITY2. (Karson also has a younger brother Ryley playing as well) As long as he is healthy, yes, he will play and contribute. 

SLU is also working hard, with other targets as well to add to the already strong group of committed 2022 and 2023 players. 

(It will probably fly under the radar a but, SIUE is recruiting pretty welp right now as well. Not SLU level but good enough to mention, yes)

You may need a roster sheet for a game or two, but SLU will have plenty of  talent for next season and beyond.

[SLURadioBoy]

14 minutes ago, courtside said:

Yes. It’s a very good recruiting class. 

First, several returning players that didn’t play much or even at all last year, are very good, and, will play quite a bit. That part is less talked about and perhaps overlooked by some. But the returning players can play. That’s the first thing to know. Legut, Floriani, Moore etc…along with several players who played more often. 

Three of the transfers may start on the back line/will play a lot. And a couple of Freshmen will compete at wing back. There are 3 other attacking players that will play/provide depth in the attacking third.

Some SLU commits and targets also recently played in the MLS Next Cup in Dallas, as well as ECNL Playoffs in San Diego. (St. Louis is hosting the ECNL Boys Final 8 for the 2nd straight year) A few others (and a few recruiting targets) such as Karson have been playing with stlCITY2. (Karson also has a younger brother Ryley playing as well) As long as he is healthy, yes, he will play and contribute. 

SLU is also working hard, with other targets as well to add to the already strong group of committed 2022 and 2023 players. 

(It will probably fly under the radar a but, SIUE is recruiting pretty welp right now as well. Not SLU level but good enough to mention, yes)

You may need a roster sheet for a game or two, but SLU will have plenty of  talent for next season and beyond.

Thanks, @courtside. That’s really exciting to hear. I’m looking forward to watching more games next season.

[courtside]

SLU released its 2022 recruiting class. We talked about these players here. Scroll back for more info. 

Here they are in one place:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2022/7/18/mens-soccer-billikens-add-strong-2022-recruiting-class.aspx

[cgeldmacher]

2 hours ago, courtside said:

SLU released its 2022 recruiting class. We talked about these players here. Scroll back for more info. 

Here they are in one place:

https://slubillikens.com/news/2022/7/18/mens-soccer-billikens-add-strong-2022-recruiting-class.aspx

I love the very diverse class.  Three locals, seven Americans from outside the local area, and four internationals.

[courtside]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:55 PM, cgeldmacher said:

I love the very diverse class.  Three locals, seven Americans from outside the local area, and four internationals.

It’s a strong class.

Both the SLU Men and Women’s teams  (which have different circumstances each) have an inside out recruiting approach which includes,’the state, region, nationally, and internationally.

These incoming recruits of course don’t also count commits who signed professionally instead of attending SLU. That will happen here and there as it did with this class.

SLU will continue to recruit a diverse group of players MLS Next, (most recently in Dallas) ECNL, (St. Louis hosted the finals after being in Sam Diego) USYS, (most recently in Indy and Chicago) transfers, (wide geography), and internationals.

More information about the 2022 class is in previous pages of the thread,’as well as for some of the 2023 commits.

 

[courtside]

SLU has a new 2023 commit from Carlos Leatherman, from St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Carlos has played for both Minnesota United FC Academy (MNUFC) and MNUFC2. And he has also trained with the Minnesota United FC first team. 

Most recently Carlos was selected to play in the inaugural MLS next All Star Game. He has been a teammate of 2022 SLU commit CJ Coppola. He played about a dozen games with his academy team, and about a dozen games with his MLS Next Pro Team, starting for both. (Former Billiken Patrick Weah is also a MNUFC player.)

With MNUFC2, Carlos has played right back, along the same back line as former SLU commit Devin Padelford.(Devin, a left back, signed a pro deal instead of going to to SLU, after his accelerated development).

Carlos is a speedy, athletic wing back who plays very well 1v1 both defensively and offensively, especially in space. 

https://twitter.com/cleathermanjr/status/1553130872337010693?s=21&t=cF_hd1qXpZJ0TICj8Btu5g

 

[Pistol]

New season is just about to start, SLU is ranked #10, let's get the party going in a new thread.

Roll Bills.

[RUBillsFan]

4 minutes ago, Pistol said:

New season is just about to start, SLU is ranked #10, let's get the party going in a new thread.

Roll Bills.

I admittedly know very little about the college soccer landscape, but #10 seems kinda high given the amount of talent they lost to graduation & the pros.  Hoping that means I'm underrating the returning players & talent we are bringing in and not that media is just overrating us because of last season.

[Pistol]

13 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

I admittedly know very little about the college soccer landscape, but #10 seems kinda high given the amount of talent they lost to graduation & the pros.  Hoping that means I'm underrating the returning players & talent we are bringing in and not that media is just overrating us because of last season.

We talked about this on the show that dropped yesterday, but I think it's partly because the incoming transfers are highly regarded (as are the freshmen) and we're getting a lot of goodwill from the unexpectedly great season last year. Fringe-top 25 to start the year and undefeated until the Elite Eight. Plus, we lost a lot but the returning core of about 6 is solid, including the guy who led D-I in assists last season. SLU is getting top-tier program treatment now - respect even when possibly down a little bit.

[courtside]

Simon Becher is getting a Vancouver Whitecaps MLS call up, after a strong season with WFC2. Well earned:

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/whitecaps-fc-sign-wingback-ali-ahmed-and-striker-simon-becher-to-mls-short-term-

[HoosierPal]

13 hours ago, courtside said:

Simon Becher is getting a Vancouver Whitecaps MLS call up, after a strong season with WFC2. Well earned:

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/whitecaps-fc-sign-wingback-ali-ahmed-and-striker-simon-becher-to-mls-short-term-

It hasn't been easy following last year's SLU draft class, besides Keller.

Keller only shows 6 GP, 318 minutes for Austin FC.  Has he played in any matches for their MLS2 team?

Any other SLU alum you have notes on?