December 24 (1911)

For the first time, the best of St. Louis meets the best of the East in a much-anticipated soccer showdown at Athletic Park, Garrison and North Market Streets. The result is an unsatisfactory 4-4 draw between St. Leo’s of St. Louis and Tacony of Philadelphia on a rain-soaked field where “the mud, in some places ankle deep,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, spoils the match. St. Leo’s halfback Herbert Peterson is declared the man of the match, according to the Post-Dispatch’s Clarence F. Lloyd: “He was all over the field, fed his forwards nicely and also rendered much aid in a defensive way.” The game is played at a time when there is no national soccer championship. Tacony won the 1910 American Cup, whose winner was considered the best of the East, and had lost only three times over a span that started in the 1909-10 season. St. Leo’s is the dominant force in St. Louis soccer and will win 10 city championships from 1903-15. Just over a year after the tie with Tacony, St. Leo’s will mark a major milestone in St. Louis soccer history by defeating 1911 American Cup winner West Hudson, N.J., 4-2, on Dec. 29, 1912, in St. Louis. The New York Times declares that the outcome entitles St. Leo’s to be considered the soccer champion of the United States. The National Challenge Cup (today’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup) begins in the 1913-14 season. But the question of who’s soccer’s best — St. Louis or the East —won’t be decided officially until the 1919-20 season, when St. Louis teams enter the National Challenge Cup for the first time. The Ben Millers of St. Louis will win the Cup, the first of 10 Cup championships for St. Louis teams.