ST. LOUIS, MO._ A Billiken hat-trick left the handful of Huskie soccer faithfuls in St. Louis with little to cheer about Friday night.

Along with NIU’s inability to get on the scoreboard for only the first time this season, Saint Louis University used crisp passing and their home-field advantage to extend its series unbeaten string over the Huskies to eight straight with a 3-0 triumph.

SLU, ranked 11th in the nation, shut out a Huskie offense that came into the contest averaging 2.5 goals per game and shut down the NIU point machine, Willy Roy Jr. The senior All-America Candidate has 43 points on 13 goals and 17 assists but couldn’t penetrate the Billiken defense.

A contributing factor was the fact that SLU struck early. With 9:35 gone, the Billikens leading point producer, Brian McBride, dished a crossing pass to freshman Jeff Davis for the two-foot open-netter. NIU’s goalkeeper Markus Roy disagreed with the tally, arguing to the linesman that the Billikens were offside.

“There was a clear offsides,” NIU coach Willy Roy said. “But, you know what, you’re not going to get those calls away from home. Whether it’s offsides or not, you can’t stop playing.”

Eight minutes later, Saint Louis went to the right of the net again and took advantage of a Huskie defensive lapse. The Billikens’ Jason Huber, who ended the game with two goals and an assist, fired a 17-footer off the far post for a 2-0 Saint Louis lead.

“Over on our left fullback side, we made some drastic mistakes that cost us the two goals,” Roy said. “We’re too nice. Other people do anything to defend and we let people run by us and you can’t do that.”

NIU challenged the Billiken defense time after time towards the end of the first half, but couldn’t get any breaks. Roy Jr. blasted a 22-yard free kick that SLU’s goalie barely tipped over the cross bar. With 6:08 left in the half, Roy Jr. sliced the Billiken defense with a perfect set-up to forward Chris Schneider. The St. Louis native tip-toed into a one-on-one situation with the Saint Louis ‘keeper, but couldn’t get control of the ball and consequently had it batted away.

“We came back and made a valiant effort just before half,” Roy said. “We pushed and pushed. They cleared a couple near the goal line and their goalie made a couple of key saves and that was it.”

The loss may have seriously dimmed NIU’s hopes for a post-season bid. According to SLU coach Joe Clarke, who is a member of the Midwest Region voting board, the Huskies can forget about any surprises on the November 5th selection day.

“I don’t think they’ll get in the playoffs now,” Clarke said. “I think they would’ve had a shot at a playoff bid had they beaten us, but they have too many losses in the region and they don’t have a win over a team that’s going to get in the playoffs.

“I really don’t know how many wins they own in the region,” Clarke added. “But, their regional record is not good. And what you do in the region is the most important thing in regional interest.”