ST. LOUIS – St. Louis(m) senior Tim Ream (St. Dominic) rifled home the game-winning goal in the second half, and the SLU defense posted its second straight shutout as the Billikens topped Richmond 1-0 Friday in the Atlantic 10 Conference men’s soccer opener for both squads.

The win, SLU’s third straight, improves its record to 6-4-0 (1-0-0 A-10). Richmond dips to 3-7-0 (0-1-0 A-10) on the season.

“We did not have our best effort tonight, but a win to begin conference play is a definitely a positive,” SLU head coach Dan Donigan said. “We need to be ready to go a full 90 minutes Sunday against George Washington. No discredit to Richmond, they worked hard and battled and I give them a lot of credit for frustrating us. To me, however, we didn’t play nearly what we are capable of for a full 90 minutes.”

The two teams were scoreless for the first 54 minutes of action before Ream sparked the offense with his second goal of the season. On a restart, freshman Alex Sweetin played the ball short to Ream, who fired from roughly 24 yards over the wall and into the back of the net for the eventual game winner.

The SLU defense, anchored by senior keeper Ross Kaufman, fought off 11 Richmond shots and three corners. The Spiders’ best chance came in the second half when Ben Brewster’s shot from inside the box deflected off the outside of the near post.

Sweetin, who collected his team-high tying third helper of the year on Ream’s winner, led the way with two shots on goal for Saint Louis. Freshman Benny Estes, who made his first career start, nearly put the Billikens on top early. His first chance of the night ricocheted off the cross bar, and his follow-up chance on the rebound sailed just high.

Kaufman made one save for his second shutout of the season. Richmond keeper Brock Tomlinson stopped four shots for the Spiders.

Saint Louis hosts George Washington at Hermann Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m. GW suffered a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Charlotte earlier this evening.