Dec. 7, 2001
STANFORD, Calif. - Junior Roger Levesque (Portland, Maine) scored the only goal of a tightly-contested match as Stanford defeated Saint Louis 1-0 in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Men's Tournament on Friday evening in front of 2,511 boisterous fans at Maloney Field. The Cardinal (19-1-1) advances to next weekend's College Cup, scheduled for Dec. 14-16 in Columbus, Ohio.
Stanford, the tournament's No. 3 seed, had numerous opportunities to put the ball in the net during the first half and outshot the Billikens (18-2-0) by a 7-5 margin. After several near misses, the Cardinal took the lead at 37:09 when Levesque recovered Saint Louis goalkeeper John Politis' errant kick, averted a defender and fired the ball back into the goal for a 1-0 Stanford advantage. The goal was the 13th of the year for Levesque, who leads the team in that category.
Entering the second half of play, the Cardinal continued to cling to the one-goal advantage. Stanford would outshoot Saint Louis 5-3 in the second half (12-8 for the entire game) and continued to defend well against the Billikens, who had several chances in the final 20 minutes. Saint Louis nearly tied the game at the 84:35 mark, when Billiken defender Mike Kirchhoff blasted a shot that deflected off the crossbar and out of play.
Stanford netminder Andrew Terris (Newton, Mass.) made four saves in the shutout, Stanford's 12th of the season. The Cardinal defense also held the nation's leading goal scorer, forward Dipsy Selolwane, without a shot in the match- the first time that has been done in 2001.
Also for Stanford, senior Lee Morrison (Carmichael, Calif.) played in his 87th straight match, a new Cardinal all-time record. Morrison, along with Levesque, were named NSCAA All-Americans earlier in the day. Morrison was selected to the First Team, while Levesque was named to the Second Team.
Stanford's opponent in the College Cup will be the winner of the North Carolina/Fairleigh Dickinson quarterfinal contest to be played Saturday at 10 a.m.
Scoring 1 2 F Saint Louis 0 0 0 Stanford 1 0 1
Scoring Summary: STAN- Levesque (unassisted) 37:09.
Shots: Stanford 12, Saint Louis 8.
Saves: Stanford 4, Saint Louis 3.
Fouls: Stanford 18, Saint Louis 13.
Records: Stanford 19-1-1 (6-1-1 Pac-10), Saint Louis 18-2-0 (9-1-0 Conference USA).
Attendance: 2,511.