Calling it “my worst game in two years,” goalkeeper Slobo Ilijevski shows some rust in his first match after issuing a play-me-or-trade-me ultimatum. But the St. Louis Steamers rally from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Denver Avalanche, 7-5, before 16,662 fans at the Checkerdome. The game’s No. 1 star goes to Steamers defender Carl Rose (pictured), who scores a goal and adds an assist.

St. Louis CITY scores a rousing 3-1 victory over Charlotte in CITY’s first-ever MLS home match before a sellout crowd. CITY, picked to be an MLS cellar-dweller, improves its record to 2-0-0. Read more about this game, and the record-setting first season for CITY in “Year One” by Dave Lange, available now from Reedy Press.

Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Preki scores a goal and another future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer, Fernando Clavijo (pictured), has two assists in the St. Louis Storm’s victory over the Tacoma Stars.

Three goals from Tim Knox sends undefeated CBC to a 4-0 victory over St. Louis U. High in the St. Louis District Class A championship game at Fairground Park. The district championship is the ultimate accomplishment in St. Louis high school soccer at the time. There will be no Missouri state soccer championship competition until the 1968-69 season.

St. Teresa (pictured in 1895), the city’s best team of the 1890s, wins its fourth and last consecutive city championship by scoring a dramatic 1-0 win over Diels in a showdown before 2,500 fans

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the professional St. Louis League has voted to wear numbers on their jerseys, a relatively new practice in soccer. Although the newspaper writes that “it will be several weeks before the innovation is put into practice,” one team, the Hoovers, says it will wear numbers the following Sunday in its St. Louis League match with the Ben Millers.

Under the headline “RIOT AT SPORTSMAN’S PARK,” the next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch will call a game between the Cappels and the Cyclists “the most disgraceful riot ever seen on a St. Louis football field.” The Cyclists win the fight-marred match, 7-1.

Billy Gonsalves, one of the greatest U.S.-born players of all time, makes his debut with Stix, Baer and Fuller of St. Louis. Gonsalves will play a key role in the success of three-time U.S. Open Cup champion Stix/Central Brewers, scoring 101 goals over five seasons. The native of Portsmouth, R.I., will be named to the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame after a 25-year career in which he is alleged to have scored more than 1,000 goals.

CITY makes St. Louis soccer history with a stunning MLS debut at Austin. With the game tied 2–2 and 4 minutes to play, striker João Klauss scores on a counterattack for the game-winner. Read more about this game, and the record-setting first season for CITY in “Year One” by Dave Lange, available now from Reedy Press.

While the United States fights on the World War I battlefields of France, the St. Louis League continues its weekly Sunday doubleheaders. On Feb. 24, the Ben Millers tie Innisfails 1-1 and remain in first place, while St. Leo’s and the Naval Reserves battle to a 2-2 standoff (headline shown from Feb. 25 St. Louis Globe-Democrat).

St. Louis Steamers forward Tony Glavin, whose several nicknames include “the Motor Man,” lives up to the nickname by driving the Western Division to a 9-5 win over the East in the MISL All-Star Game in Buffalo, N.Y. He then drives a 1983 Ford Ranger off the Memorial Auditorium floor, his prize for being the game’s MVP with three goals and two assists.

An estimated 10,000 fans watch the Muny League semifinals, won by St. Mathew’s and Hense’s, at Fairground Park. (Pictured is headline from Feb. 23, 1925, St. Louis Star-Times.) St. Mathew’s will go on to take the Muny championship by winning the deciding game of the three-game finals 2-1 on March 15.

Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Gino Pariani is born. He will be one of five St. Louisans in the starting lineup of the United States’ epic 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup.

The Steamers trade Don Ebert and Steve Pecher to the Los Angeles Lazers for Poli Garcia and rookie defender Jim Kavanaugh (pictured while at St. Louis University). Kavanaugh will retire after the 1987-88 season, become a leading business executive, and, together with the Taylor family, will bring an MLS soccer franchise to St. Louis in 2019.

Lindsay Kennedy Eversmeyer plays her first game for the St. Louis Steamers before 13,798 fans at the Scottrade Center in a 7-3 loss to the Milwaukee Wave. Her appearance during the last minute of the match is believed to be only the fourth time that a woman has played in a men’s professional indoor game.

Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Frank Vaughn is born. Vaughn will become a standout fullback in the professional St. Louis League with the Ben Millers and will be named to the U.S. team for the first World Cup in 1930.

The St. Louis Storm lose 6-5 on the road to the San Diego Sockers despite two goals and an assist from future U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and Indoor Soccer Hall of Famer Predrag Radosavljević, better known as Preki.

Alyssa Mautz, one of the top women’s players in the history of St. Louis soccer, scores for Perth Glory against Sydney in the Australian W League final.

St. Louis-based Centene Corp. signs “one of the biggest naming rights agreements in MLS:” a 15-year stadium naming rights deal with St. Louis City Soccer Club said to total at least $75 million.

A St. Louisan stars at the Arena, but not for the Steamers. David Brcic, a former U.S. National Teamer, stuns the Steamers with an exceptional goalkeeping performance in preserving a 4-3 win for the Pittsburgh Spirit before 8,960 fans.