Saint Louis senior forward Jimmy Holmes scored twice and sophomore midfielder Alex Sweetin added a goal and an assist in leading the Billikens to their first victory of the year, a 5-2 triumph against Oral Roberts Friday night at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.
"Any time you score five goals you are happy," McGinty said. "We created a number of chances. Oral Roberts is a good team but we are disappointed that we gave up a couple. However, we are moving in the right direction and we look forward to begin preparing for Tulsa."
SLU applied constant pressure early and got on the board in the 25th minute. Sophomore Benny Estes started the play with a long throw-in. The ball pinged around in the box, and Jimmy Holmes pounced on the loose ball and fired from a bad angle into the side netting to make it 1-0.
Four minutes later, Alex Sweetin made it 2-0. Estes was again involved in the play after he drew a yellow card with a run up the left flank. On the ensuing free kick, Sweetin curled a ball just inside the far post from roughly 25 yards.
The Billikens completed the scoring in the first half with a tally in the 44th minute on a corner kick. Alex Sweetin sent a ball in that Christian Briggs headed into the back of the net, giving the Billikens a 3-0 advantage at the break.
It was much of the same in the second half, as the Billikens put up an early goal to make it 4-0. Michael Robson played a ball in the 18, and he dished to Stephen Bortolon who ran it to the goal line on the right side. Bortolon sent a cross into the goal mouth that a charging Holmes buried, giving the Bills a four-goal advantage with 40 minutes to play.
ORU leading scorer Jarrett Hamilton put the Golden Eagles on the board in the 55th minute with a header off an assist from Kalen Ryden. Late in the match, John David James scored from the top of the box to the far post to make it 4-2.
Freshman forward Adnan Gabeljic made it 5-2 with a goal in the final minute. He ran down the left side and scored from a bad angle for his first-career tally, giving the Billikens the 5-2 advantage.
SLU outshot the Golden Eagles 20-8 and held a 2-1 corner kick advantage. SLU keeper Nick Shackelford made two saves for the Bills.