Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - La Salle knotted the game at 1-1 in the 79th minute on Jason Plumhoff's  team-leading seventh goal of the season, but two Saint Louis goals with under five minutes in regulation pushed the second-seeded Billikens past seventh-seeded La Salle in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Championship in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday.

La Salle concludes its season at 10-7-3. No. 25 (NSCAA) Saint Louis is now 14-4 and moves on to the semifinal round against the winner of No. 3 Xavier/No. 6 Dayton.

The Billikens controlled play in the first half, breaking through at exactly 23:00 for the first goal when Robbie Kristo converted a short header on an assist from Jon Roeckle. They outshot the Explorers 7-2 in the opening stanza, with multiple opportunities to add to the score, but standout goalkeeper John McCarthy came up with three huge saves to keep the Explorers well within striking distance.

The Explorers took advantage of that striking distance, solving the Saint Louis defense and Billiken keeper Nick Shackelford in the 79th minute to knot the game at 1-1. Tom Kalpokas snagged a steal near midfield and got the ball to Plumhoff, who took a shot from eight yards out that found the back of the net and sent the La Salle bench and fans into celebration.

However, the Billikens responded quickly and decisively. Less than seven minutes later, Kingsley Bryce got the ball off of a corner and made a sliding shot for the game's deciding goal. Alex Sweetin added the insurance goal with 56 seconds left in regulation for the final 3-1 score.

McCarthy made five saves in the effort and concludes the season with 114 total. Shackelford made three saves. The Billikens owned a 9-3 advantage on corner kicks.

"I thought we had a good effort," Head Coach Pat Farrell said. "At the end of the first half, I thought Saint Louis carried it to us a little bit so we made some adjustments at halftime that seemed to level the playing field. Then we started to get a lot more territory and a lot more chances."

I felt good obviously when we tied the game, I thought we got momentum, but they just had one or two guys that made a play and broke us down."

The Explorers wrapped up a season that saw the best nonconference record in decades and the first time since joining the Atlantic 10 that the squad made the league tournament in three straight seasons. McCarthy earned Atlantic 10 All-Conference Second Team honors and Joe Farrell earned All-Rookie honors to highlight individual awards.

"The goals we set early in the year were double digit wins and make the Atlantic 10 Tournament," Farrell added. "Those are two of the goals we set every year and we achieved both of them. But there is still some unsettled business because we would someday like to get to the [NCAA] Tournament."