November 24 (1962)

Senior Gerry Balassi accounts for three of the Billikens’ goals and assists on the game-winner as St. Louis University captures its third NCAA soccer championship in four years by coming from behind to defeat Maryland, 4-3, at Francis Field. A crowd of 6,149 sees Balassi put the Bills ahead, 2-0, with a goal in the fourth minute and another on a penalty kick seven minutes later. But Dick Rowe, John Ruhs and Eberhart Klein strike to put the Terps in the lead at halftime. Balassi counters by stealing the ball 40 yards from goal and breaks in one-on-one on goalkeeper Ron Williamson. Williamson stops Balassi’s shot, but Balassi heads in the rebound with about 10 minutes left. The Bills win a corner kick three minutes later. Balassi takes the kick. Joe Hennessy, a tall defender who comes up to be the target player, heads in Balassi’s kick for what is Hennessy’s first goal of the season. Balassi, the only foreign-born player for the Bills, is a native of Genoa, Italy, and moved to the United States around 1957. Balassi leads the 1962 Bills with 16 goals and 14 assists. He ends his three-season Billikens varsity career with 52 goals and 39 assists for 143 points, still the third-best point total in Billikens’ history. The victory over Maryland caps the Bills’ first umbeaten season as they finish 12-0-1. St. Louis U. coach Bob Guelker expected 1962 to be a down season after returning only four starters from the team that lost in the 1961 NCAA final to West Chester, 2-0. “At the beginning of the season I predicted that this would be a rebuilding year; next year was to be our big one,” Guelker says after beating Maryland in the 1962 final. “However, I’m glad I was wrong this time.” The championship also is won in the memory of backup goalkeeper Mike Quinn, who died in an auto accident the week before the NCAA quarterfinals. St. Louis U. romped to a 9-3 quarterfinal blowout of Stanford. “We played this one for Mike,” Guelker said after the game with Stanford.