THE ‘BOOT’ IS BACK: SIUE, SLU agree on home-and-home men’s soccer series

The late SIUE men’s soccer coach Bob Guelker and his team celebrate their 1979 NCAA Division I national championship game win over Clemson at Tampa Stadium. The Cougars and rival Saint Louis University have agreed to renew their series beginning in 2018. less The late SIUE men’s soccer coach Bob Guelker and his team celebrate their 1979 NCAA Division I national championship game win over Clemson at Tampa Stadium. The Cougars and rival Saint Louis University have ... more Photo: File Photo Photo: File Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close THE ‘BOOT’ IS BACK: SIUE, SLU agree on home-and-home men’s soccer series 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

EDWARDSVILE — The Bronze Boot is back.

SIUE and Saint Louis University came to a verbal agreement Tuesday to bring back the Bronze Boot soccer game. Once one of college soccer’s biggest draws, the Bronze Boot game has been on an on-again, off-again hiatus of sorts since SIUE’s soccer program dropped from NCAA Division status in 1995.

“I’m excited,” said Dr. Brad Hewitt, SIUE director of intercollegiate athletics said. “When you have a school with such deep soccer roots and strong tradition a half-hour drive away, playing the game is a no-brainer.”

The schools have agreed on a two-year home-and-home series that will begin in 2018 with the first contest slated for SLU’s Hermann Stadium. In 2019, the game will be played at SIUE’s Korte Stadium.

“Both schools’ schedules were already full for next fall,” Hewitt said, “so we’ll start it the following year. We’ll start with the two-year agreement and see how it goes from there.”

SIUE began transitioning to Division I status in 2007. Prior to that, the school had played at NCAA Division II status in every sport except men’s soccer, which was Division I from 1973 through 1995.

With the move up to D1, many St. Louis area soccer fans assumed the Bronze Boot game would be be reinstituted. But it didn’t happen - until now.

“I remember hearing about the Bronze Boot,” SIUE men’s soccer coach Mario Sanchez said. “It was one of college soccer’s biggest games every year. I’m ready for it to happen again.”

The Bronze Boot was played annually between the two rivals, which were at one time among the top college men’s soccer powers in the nation. The early teams were coached by a pair of hall-of-famers, SIUE’s Bob Guelker and SLU’s Harry Keough.

“So many of the best players in the country came from the St. Louis area,” Sanchez said. “There were a lot of big names associated with the Bronze Boot.”

Saint Louis U. coach Mike McGinty is equally excited about renewing the series, although he wouldn’t go so far as to call it the Bronze Boot game.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be called the Bronze Boot,” McGinty said, “The words ‘Bronze’ or ‘Boot’ haven’t come out of my mouth, but, I’m excited,” McGinty said. “I’ve known Mario a long time and it makes sense to play this one. For us, anytime we can get a good game in the neighborhood like this , it’s good for us and good for the sport.”

Many of the old Bronze Boot games were played at Busch Stadium II in St. Louis and attracted large crowds, the size of which were unheard of for college soccer games. In fact, the crowd of 22,512 that watched the 1980 Bronze Boot matchup at Busch Stadium is still the largest regular-season crowd in NCAA history. The 1973 Bronze Boot game at Busch Stadium attracted the seventh-largest crowd of 20,112 and the 1972 game at Busch between the Billikens and Cougars attracted 15,000 and is the 14th-largest crowd.

Sanchez said the return of the Bronze Boot game is a subject fans have asked him about often.

“I’m excited we got it done,” Sanchez said of agreeing on the series. “When I told our players just before they left for the summer what was probably coming, the seniors were sorry it won’t begin next season. They really wanted to be a part of it.”

While not all SLU vs. SIUE games were known as the Bronze Boot, the series began to receive nationwide attention when the schools agreed to play the annual game at Busch Stadium II. Those games were played in front of large crowds.

The Billikens lead the overall series 9-26-1. The last game between the schools was in 1995, a 4-0 SLU victory. The last SIUE victory was in 1982, 2-0 at Busch Stadium.

The late Al Barnes, who was the longtime sports information director at SIUE, is credited with naming the Bronze Boot game and trophy.

“In those days, the matchup between SIU and Saint Louis U. was almost an all-St. Louis-area affair,” former SIUE coach and player Ed Huneke said. “A big percentage of the best players in the country were from here.”

Huneke played in the first SIUE-SLU regular-season matchup, a 3-1 loss at Cougar Field in 1970.

“College soccer wasn’t as big a deal back when the Bronze Boot started,” Huneke said, “but when the Bronze Boot came around, it was a big deal. People all over the country knew about it. It received nationwide media attention, too.”

SIUE’s men’s soccer team has advanced to the NCAA Division National Tournament two times in the last three seasons. Last fall, the Cougars advanced to the third round with victories over Michigan State and Butler, before falling to Wake Forest. In 20-14, SIUE advanced to the second round, defeating northwestern in the first round before falling to Cal.

SLU has the most NCAA soccer championships with 10, the last coming in 1973. In all, the Billikens have qualified for the NCAA National Tournament 48 times, the last in 2014.

SIUE won a Division I national championship in 1979 and a Division II title in 1972. In 1975, the Cougars were national runners-up Division I. They were second in Division II in 2004. SIUE also qualified for the Division I finals in 1982 and 1977 and the Division II National Tourney in 2001 and 2005. In all, the Cougars have qualified for the Division I NCAA National Tourney 15 times and the Division II national tourney eight times.

“In sports, teams fortunes rose and they fall,” said SIUE’s Sanchez, a former coach at Louisville. “But there are some games that just need to be played regardless of what anyone’s won-lost record is.

“When I was a Louisville, we had to play Kentucky - in every sport. That was just the way it was and still is. This is a game like that. The fans will be excited about it and I know the players will be.”