November 10 (1959)

St. Louis University is selected to represent the Midwestern College Conference in the inaugural NCAA playoffs. The Billikens have a 7-1 record, with their only loss a 2-1 defeat at Wheaton on Nov. 7. Wheaton also is in line for the Midwesteren playoff berth, but the Bills are ranked ahead of Wheaton based on a point system to rate playoff contenders, according to Oberlin College’s Cliff Stephenson, chairman of the Midwestern’s selection committee. Wheaton coach Bob Baptista backed the selection of St. Louis U. “We got some mighty good breaks when we beat St. Louis,” Baptista tells U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming in the Nov. 10, 1959, issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Billiken soccer began as a club sport in 1958 under the direction of future U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame coach Bob Guelker. Guelker, a volunteer coach, also heads the team as a full-fledged varsity sport in 1959. The team consists entirely of St. Louis players. “Bob Guelker was working for free and all the kids were playing for free,” backup goalkeeper Bill Mueller will tell Dave Lange in a 2010 interview. “We didn’t live there. We just went there like it was a high school.” Nevertheless, the Bills will be the best college soccer team in the nation in 1959. They will win all three NCAA playoff matches by at least three goals to capture the Bills’ first of 10 NCAA soccer championships.