NCAA men's tournament

Roth delivers goal, Northwestern ends season for No. 12 Saint Louis 1-0.

David Roth, a St. Louis native, provided the goal that allowed Northwestern to upset No. 12 Saint Louis 1-0. -- Northwester University web site photo --

ST. LOUIS (Thursday, November 16, 2006) -- Saint Louis will always remember David Roth as the one who got away.

Roth, a St. Louis native, scored midway through the first half, enough to give Northwestern a 1-0 upset of the No. 12 Billikens in the second round of the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship tournament before 1,079 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.

Junior goalkeeper Justin Pines made seven saves for the Wildcats, who will host North Carolina-Greensboro Sunday in the NCAA third round. The visiting Spartans shocked sixth-ranked West Virginia 2-1 in overtime yesterday.

"Five years ago, we lost 35 games in a row," NU coach Tim Lenahan said. "With the tradition of Saint Louis and to make the Round of 16 here is just amazing. Guys like Dave and Justin made the decision to come here when we were nothing and this win is something special."

A driving rain forced the match, originally scheduled for yesterday, to be delayed. The game was played today under a clear sky and the field seemed to be in good condition.

Saint Louis (13-5-2) opened with a flurry and created a solid scoring opportunity in the 14th minute, but Pines came up with a point-blank stop on senior midfielder Alex Matteson. Pines then denied Billikens senior midfielder John DiRaimondo from inside 10 yards, while the Billikens also missed the target on several early chances.

The tide turned when Roth found himself with space and drove a shot from 30 yards. SLU keeper Ross Kaufman got his fingertips on the blast, but it scraped the underside of the crossbar and dropped behind him. Roth had his eighth goal of the season and the Wildcats led 1-0 with 19:15 elapsed.

"I thought that I was in good position, but the ball was really moving and it dipped," Kaufman said. "I got a hand on it, but not enough to tip it over the bar."

Two minutes later, Pines made a save on SLU senior midfielder Casey Spiess. In the 27th minute, Pines dove to thwart a 16-yarder from DiRaimondo.

With 30 minutes remaining in the match, NU (13-7) survived another blitz by the Billikens. Pines made his sixth save on a close-range shot and then watched his defense block another attempt.

In the last 20 minutes, Saint Louis played with desperation, but the 'Cats defene was up to the task, repeatedly heading away balls pumped into the box. With two minutes remaining, Spiess unleashed a shot just above the box, but Pines dove and just managed to tip the ball wide of his net.

SLU outshot NU 14-5, 7-4 on frame. "The game can be unkind, because I think everyone who was in the stadium this afternoon would say that we were the better team, but that doesn't always give the necessary result," Billikens coach Dan Donigan said. "But give Northwestern credit because they got a great goal and then they did what they had to do to get the win."

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