January 7 (1973)

One might think that the college soccer season never ends in St. Louis as the Missouri Amateur Cup begins. First-round games at five locations are filled with local college talent playing for St. Louis League teams such as Big Four, l971 U.S. Amateur Cup champion Kutis and 1972 U.S. Amateur Cup champion Busch. The attraction of playing high-level soccer after the college season sways many of the area’s top high school players to sign with local or nearby colleges and universities such as St. Louis U., SIU-Edwardsville, UMSL and Quincy. A look at Busch’s roster sees familiar St. Louis college stars such as SIU-Edwardsville’s John Stremlau, the most valuable forward in the recently completed NCAA College Division tournament won by SIUE, and UMSL All-Americans Frank Tusinski, Steve Buckley and John Garland. Kutis fields St. Louis U.’s Denny Hadican, Bob Matteson, Denny Werner, Tim Logush, Jim Bokern and Al Steck and SIUE’s Chris Carenza. Big Four, the defending Missouri Open Cup champ, features a virtual all-St. Louis U. team headed by Dan Counce, who will win the Hermann Trophy as college soccer’s top player in the upcoming 1973 season. Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and two-time Hermann Trophy winner Al Trost, whose last season at St. Louis U. was in 1970, also is in Big Four’s lineup. Trost had elected to remain an amateur to be eligible for the 1972 Olympics, and would play his first season as a pro later in 1973 with the NASL’s St. Louis Stars. Busch will go on to win the Missouri Amateur Cup, but will lose in the U.S. Amateur Cup Western Division semifinals to the Chicago Kickers 3-0.