During his high school soccer career at Ankeny Centennial, Andrew Heckenlaible never got a chance to play in a state championship game.
Now a sophomore forward at St. Louis University, Heckenlaible is just two wins away from advancing to the title game of the NCAA Tournament.
The Billikens have advanced through the tournament in thrilling fashion, knocking off Kentucky and Indiana in the first two rounds before topping Bryant in penalty kicks last weekend. They will now play at Akron on Saturday at noon in the Elite Eight.
The game will be televised by ESPN+.
“It’s been quite the experience,” said Heckenlaible.
St. Louis (12-2-8) is unbeaten in its last 13 games, tied for the longest active streak in the NCAA. The Billikens’ last loss came at Akron, 3-0, on Sept. 23.
Akron (13-4-3), the No. 14 overall seed in the NCAA Championship, has yet to allow a goal in the tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, the Zips defeated Notre Dame (1-0) and Duke (2-0) on their home turf to advance to the quarterfinals.
Akron has yielded just 0.60 goals per game, which ranks fifth in the country. But Heckenlaible said the Billikens are prepared to avenge their earlier loss.
“I’m not going to make excuses for ourselves, but the last time we played them it was coming off a road trip,” Heckenlaible said. “We played in Pittsburgh versus Duquesne and had a two-day turnaround to play in Akron. There was a lot of travel and heavy legs, so it’s good that they are our only target now and we can throw everything at them.”
St. Louis is one of only two unseeded teams remaining in the tournament along with Washington. However, the Billikens are making their NCAA-record 52nd tournament appearance and have won 10 NCAA championships, the most of any program.
Heckenlaible said he had a lot of confidence in his team after the Billikens won the Atlantic-10 Tournament crown in penalty kicks over Dayton on Nov. 16.
“We only took two losses this year,” he said. “We had some bad ties, and there were some circumstances like a red card and stuff like that. We knew we weren’t going to get a seed, but we thought we were very capable of winning the whole thing.”
Heckenlaible has played in 21 of the 22 games with 17 starts. He has contributed seven points on a pair of goals and three assists.
“I’m pretty happy with my role,” Heckenlaible said. “I always strive for more, like more stats or whatever. But I’m happy where I’m at.”
Heckenlaible helped Centennial to a 41-15 record and three consecutive trips to the state tournament in 2021-23. He racked up 43 goals in his career and was a first-team all-state pick as a junior.
After graduating early, Heckenlaible left Ankeny to join the Minnesota United FC U19 Academy team and Minnesota United MLS. He spent the next six months playing against top-level talent before beginning his college career.
“There’s definitely a learning curve (in Division I),” Heckenlaible said. “You play at such a high youth level and then you think you’re going to come in (and succeed right away), and I was telling the coaches here that it would be a drop-off in the (talent) level for me, but it was actually an increase. That was a learning curve that I dealt with last season for sure.”
Heckenlaible played in 17 games for St. Louis as a freshman, coming off the bench for the Billikens. He recorded three assists while helping the team to an 8-5-8 record.
St. Louis lost to Kansas City, 2-0, in the opening round of last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“I put in a lot of work myself, and so did a lot of my teammates,” Heckenlaible said. “We’ve just been grinding over the spring and summer to get ready for this season and not repeat what happened last year.”
The winner of Saturday’s game goes to the 2025 Men’s College Cup (the men’s soccer Final Four) on Dec. 12 and 15 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. St. Louis is seeking its 17th College Cup appearance and the first since 1997, when Billiken head coach Kevin Kalish was a junior defender on the team.
Saturday’s game will be played at FirstEnergy Stadium in Akron. Temperatures are expected to be in the low-30s.
“I can’t wait,” Heckenlaible said.