Despite the long soccer tradition in the city of St. Louis, the University did not field a varsity team until 1959, when the Billikens won the first NCAA soccer championship held. With Bob Guelker as coach, the team achieved a 11–1 record that season. They defeated the University of Bridgeport 5–2 in the championship game.[1]
Noted for their dominance in men's collegiate soccer during the late 1950s through the mid-1970s, the Billikens have won 10 NCAA Men's Soccer Championships, the most of any men's college soccer program in Division 1.[2] Despite this, the Billikens have not appeared in an NCAA national championship final since 1974, and have appeared in the college cup twice since then: 1991 and 1997. Of their ten titles, nine were outright earned by the Billikens and their 1967 title was shared with the Michigan State Spartans.
During their dynasty run from the 1960s through 1970s, the team was coached by Bob Guelker during their first five championships, while Harry Keough coached the last five championship teams at SLU. Dan Donigan was the most recent head coach, serving from February 2001 until he resigned in January 2010 to accept a position at Rutgers. Presently, the Billikens are coached by Kevin Kalish.
Mike Shanahan (1960) — Played on 1959 and 1960 championship teams
Carl Gentile (1965) — Played with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League; earned 6 caps with the U.S. national team
Pat McBride (1967) — Played 10 seasons with the St. Louis Stars of the North American Soccer League; earned 5 caps with the U.S. national team
Al Trost (1970) — Played with the St. Louis Stars and other teams in the North American Soccer League; earned 14 caps with the U.S. national team
Pat Leahy (1972) — Played on three of the school's national championship soccer teams; placekicker for the NFL's New York Jets from 1974 to 1992 & Jets' all-time leading scorer[4]
Martin Hutton (2004) — 2 seasons in MLS from 2005 to 2006
John DiRaimondo (2006) — played 3 seasons in MLS from 2007 to 2009
Brandon Barklage (2008) — played 7 seasons in MLS from 2009 to 2015
Dado Hamzagić (2008) — played professionally two seasons in Bosnia from 2009 to 2011
Tim Ream (2009) — several professional seasons in MLS and in England; 50 U.S. national team caps, including every minute of the team's four games in the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Chad Vandegriffe (2012) — played professionally in USL, MISL, and MASL
Note: The number in parentheses indicates the year the player graduated from SLU; for those who didn't graduate from SLU, the number indicates the last year they played for SLU.
The following table shows the sixteen-year span from 1959 to 1974 in which SLU won 10 NCAA titles. In the six seasons in which SLU did not win, they finished second three times, reached the semifinals once, reached the quarterfinals once, and reached the round-of-16 once. In all 16 seasons, the NCAA tournament was either won by SLU or by the team that had beaten SLU.
