Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer

Last updated

Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer
St louis men soccer logo.png
Founded1959;66 years ago (1959) [1]
University Saint Louis University
Head coach Kevin Kalish (5th season)
Conference Atlantic 10
Location St. Louis, Missouri
Stadium Hermann Stadium
(Capacity: 6,050)
NicknameBillikens
ColorsBlue, White, and Grey
     
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Home
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Away
NCAA Tournament championships
1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973
NCAA Tournament runner-up
1961, 1971, 1974
NCAA Tournament College Cup
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1991, 1997
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2021
NCAA Tournament Round of 16
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2021
NCAA Tournament appearances
1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2024
Conference Tournament championships
1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012, 2021, 2022
Conference Regular Season championships
1991, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2021, 2022

The Saint Louis Billikens men's soccer team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of Saint Louis University. The Saint Louis Billikens compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. Soccer is the main fall sport at SLU, which has not sponsored football since 1949.

Contents

Despite the long soccer tradition in the city of St. Louis, the University did not field a varsity team until 1959, when the Billikens won the first NCAA soccer championship held. With Bob Guelker as coach, the team achieved a 11–1 record that season. They defeated the University of Bridgeport 5–2 in the championship game. [1]

Noted for their dominance in men's collegiate soccer during the late 1950s through the mid-1970s, the Billikens have won 10 NCAA Men's Soccer Championships, the most of any men's college soccer program in Division 1. [2] Despite this, the Billikens have not appeared in an NCAA national championship final since 1974, and have appeared in the college cup twice since then: 1991 and 1997. Of their ten titles, nine were outright earned by the Billikens and their 1967 title was shared with the Michigan State Spartans.

During their dynasty run from the 1960s through 1970s, the team was coached by Bob Guelker during their first five championships, while Harry Keough coached the last five championship teams at SLU. Dan Donigan was the most recent head coach, serving from February 2001 until he resigned in January 2010 to accept a position at Rutgers. Presently, the Billikens are coached by Kevin Kalish.

Players

Current roster

As of July 1, 2025 [3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos.NationPlayer
0 GK Flag of the United States.svg  USA Conor Dillman
1 GK Flag of the United States.svg  USA Mason Hart
2 DF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Carlos Leatherman
3 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Gershon Henry
5 DF Flag of the United States.svg  USA JC Cortez
7 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Xavi O'Neil
13 FW Flag of the United States.svg  USA Jackson Delkus
14 DF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Grady Easton
15 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Daven Barnett
17 FW Flag of the United States.svg  USA Andrew Heckenlaible
18 DF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Zack Stanton
19 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Drake Fournier
21 FW Flag of the Netherlands.svg  NED Fabian Hilpert
No.Pos.NationPlayer
23 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Tanner Anderson
24 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Braydon Seller
25 DF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Cole Ross
26 FW Flag of the United States.svg  USA Axel Torres
27 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Xavier Holloway
30 GK Flag of Germany.svg  GER Marcus Steinhaeuser

Notable alumni

1950s–1980s

  • Mike Shanahan (1960) — Played on 1959 and 1960 championship teams
  • Carl Gentile (1965) — Played with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League; earned 6 caps with the U.S. national team
  • Pat McBride (1967) — Played 10 seasons with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League; earned 5 caps with the U.S. national team
  • Al Trost (1970) — Played with the St. Louis Stars and other teams in the North American Soccer League; earned 14 caps with the U.S. national team
  • Pat Leahy (1972) — Played on three of the school's national championship soccer teams; placekicker for the NFL's New York Jets from 1974 to 1992 & Jets' all-time leading scorer [4]
  • Joe Clarke (1975) — Played professional soccer for 7 seasons, including stints with NASL's St. Louis Stars and MISL's St. Louis Steamers
  • Jim Kavanaugh (1985) — Played in the Major Indoor Soccer League; co-founder and CEO of World Wide Technology.

1990s–present

Note: The number in parentheses indicates the year the player graduated from SLU; for those who didn't graduate from SLU, the number indicates the last year they played for SLU.

Coaches

Current staff

As of June 12, 2025
PositionStaff
Head CoachKevin Kalish
Assistant CoachKevin Stoll
Assistant CoachJack Roberts
Director of OperationsConstantin Heider
Assistant Coach (GKs)Carlos Tofern

Last updated: June 12, 2025
Source: Here

Head coaching history

DatesNameNotes
1959–1966 Flag of the United States.svg Bob Guelker Won 5 NCAA championships in 8 seasons.
1967–1982 Flag of the United States.svg Harry Keough Won 5 NCAA championships in his first 7 seasons.
1983–1996 Flag of the United States.svg Joe Clarke
1997–2000 Flag of the United States.svg Bob Warming
2001–2009 Flag of the United States.svg Dan Donigan
2010–2017 Flag of the United States.svg Mike McGinty
2018–present Flag of the United States.svg Kevin Kalish

Seasons

NCAA Dominance: 1959–1974

The following table shows the sixteen-year span from 1959 to 1974 in which SLU won 10 NCAA titles. In the six seasons in which SLU did not win, they finished second three times, reached the semifinals once, reached the quarterfinals once, and reached the round-of-16 once. In all 16 seasons, the NCAA tournament was either won by SLU or by the team that had beaten SLU.

St. Louis winning NCAA tournament seasons
Title
No.		Title
season		Regular seasonNCAA tourn.Total record
1 1959 8–1-03–012–1–0
2 1960 11–1-03–014–1–0
3 1962 9–0-13–012–0–1
4 1963 10–0-03–013–0–0
5 1965 10–0-04–014–0–0
6 1967 5–3-13–113–3–2
7 1969 9–0–04–013–0–0
8 1970 10–0-14–014–0–1
9 1972 11–2–34–015–2–3
10 1973 11–2–34–015–2–3

Modern seasons

St. Louis threaten to score against Duquesne, November 2008 Billiken soccer.jpg
St. Louis threaten to score against Duquesne, November 2008
St. Louis (in white) vs. Duquesne, November 2008 Billiken soccer 2.jpg
St. Louis (in white) vs. Duquesne, November 2008
Previous Season's Records and Standings [5]
SeasonOverall
record		Conf.
Record		CoachConf.Conf.
Rank		Conf.
Tournament		NCAA tournament
20248–5–84–1–3Kevin KalishA10T-5thRunners-UpNCAA First Round
20238–4–54–1–3Kevin KalishA102ndQuarterfinals
202212–5–36–1–1Kevin KalishA101stChampionsNCAA Second Round
202116–1–48–0–0Kevin KalishA101stChampionsNCAA Quarterfinals
20209–5–04–2–0Kevin KalishA102ndSemifinals
201910–7–06–2–0Kevin KalishA104thQuarterfinals
20186–4–74–4–0 Kevin Kalish A106thQuarterfinals
20177–9–14–4–0Mike McGintyA108thQuarterfinals
20167–8–36–2–0Mike McGintyA101stQuarterfinals
20158–7–24–2–2Mike McGintyA103rdQuarterfinals
201414–4–25–1–2Mike McGintyA102ndSemifinals2nd round
201314–5–26–0–2Mike McGintyA101stRunner-Up
201216–5–07–2–0Mike McGintyA101stChampionssecond round,
eighth overall seed
20116–10–14–5–0Mike McGintyA1010th
20109–7–35–3–0Mike McGintyA105thSemifinals
200912–6–07–2–0DoniganA102ndChampions2nd Round
200812–5–56–3DoniganA104thSemifinals2nd round

See also

References

  1. 1 2 SLU Legends and Lore: The Billiken Soccer Dynasty on St. Louis University
  2. ↑ Men's Soccer Div 1 – History (1959-2011) on the NCAA
  3. ↑ "2022 Men's Soccer Roster". Saint Louis University.
  4. ↑ "Leahy To Be Enshrined in Missouri Sports Hall of Fame", SLU Billikens, February 9, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Previous Seasons". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
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