November 28 (1959)

St. Louis University wins the inaugural NCAA soccer championship, beating Bridgeport, 5-2, in Storrs, Conn. Playing “under almost impossible weather conditions,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, both teams battle rain, mud and a stiff wind almost as much as each other. Jack Dueker, filling in for injured center forward and 24-goal-scorer George Endler, scores three times as the Billikens overcome John Majesko’s goal for Bridgeport two minutes into the match. Dueker’s first two goals put the Bills ahead, but the sloppy field conditions lead to a tying goal by Jon Olson. A long, harmless-looking shot by Bridgeport splats into and sticks in the mud just in front of the net, and Olson gets to the ball first for a goal. The Bills regain the lead when Mike Shanahan puts in a rebound off a shot by Dueker just before halftime. (Shanahan, the future chairman of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues, was a St. Louis U. student who had not tried out for the team, but caught attention of St. Louis U. coach Bob Guelker by scoring four goals in a CYC game.) Bridgeport tires in the last 20 minutes and the Bills pull away on two long shots, the first by Tom Richmond off a pass from Dueker and the second on Dueker’s 30-yard free kick. Billikens coach and future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Guelker points with pride at a national title won by a team of all-St. Louis players. “The fact that native St. Louisans were able to win the title in their very first try shows the college coaches that soccer does have a great future back home,” Guelker tells U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming of the Post-Dispatch. McSkimming will write in the Nov. 29, 1950, Post-Dispatch that the bad weather held an expected crowd of 4,000 to about 500. Among the missing are members of Guelker’s family. “Coach Guelker’s wife, with their seven-month-old son, Tim, paced the floor of the gymnasium office throughout the game. She didn’t see a single minute of play because of the bad weather.” The Billikens finish the season with an 11-1-0 record while Bridgeport suffers its first loss in 12 games.