December 4 (1965)

St. Louis University wins its fifth NCAA soccer championship with a bitterly fought 1-0 win over Michigan State before 10,000 fans at Francis Field. The Michigan State squad includes four players from St. Louis, including leading scorer Guy Busch. The Spartans are out to avenge a 3-2 loss to St. Louis U. during the regular season. “Fouls, which included tripping, pushing and strong-armed elbow tactics, marred the National Collegiate Athletic Association final,” Harold Flachsbart will write in the Dec. 5, 1965, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The only goal in the final results from Michigan State’s Nick Krat bringing down future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Pat McBride in the penalty area. Carl Gentile, the second-leading scorer in St. Louis U. history, converts the penalty kick at 9:30 of the third quarter. (Ironically, Krat, who was born in the Ukraine, will be teammates with Gentile and McBride with the professional St. Louis Stars in 1967-68.) Gentile will miss another penalty kick a few minutes later, but the Bills hang on. Center halfback Jack Gilsinn and goalkeeper Don Brennan play especially strong games for the Billikens. The Bills’ Dave Schlitt and the Spartans’ Rick Nelke, a St. Louisan, are ejected with about 20 seconds left after Spartans’ fullback Bert Jacobsen punches Schlitt in the stomach and players from both benches come on the field. Bitter in defeat, Michigan State coach Gene Kenney says, “We’ve been cheated out of games in St. Louis before on penalty kicks.” Counters Billikens coach and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Bob Guelker, “I thought we outplayed them and had more opportunities to score. But if it had to be on a penalty kick, we’re just glad we won. And we’re the champions.” In what is supposed to be a rebuilding year, the Billikens complete a 14-0-0 season, the first of two perfect seasons in Billikens’ soccer history.