The St. Thomas men’s soccer team (1-1-2) salvaged a 1-1 draw in double overtime against Wartburg College (2-0-1) Sunday afternoon at South Field thanks to a late goal in regulation from junior captain Halvour Houg.
Houg won the ball in the air off of a corner kick, brought it down to his feet then smashed it home to tie it late in the game. This was Houg’s second goal of the season.
“It just kind of came to me, I didn’t really expect it to happen but I’m glad it did,” Houg said. “Set pieces are something we work on in practice a lot; a lot of the time they are what win teams’ games.”
The Tommies struggled maintaining possession in the first half, with coach Jon Lowery citing accountability and turnovers as some of the big “red lights” in his head.
“This is the third overtime game we’ve played in the past week, but I’m happy with the results we’ve gotten,” Lowery said. “I think this is a game we should have won, but overall, there’s a lot to take away and I think they played well. It was a great game of college soccer.”
The Tommies switched formations to a 3-5-2 in the second half to counter Wartburg’s high-press tactic, allowing them to open up the midfield and hold more possession of the ball, Lowery said.
The Tommies’ lone goal came with five minutes left in the second half; a goal that gave the team momentum heading into the final stretch of the game.
“We lost in overtime to Luther just a few days ago, so (Houg) scoring that goal to give us another shot helped propel us forward,” midfielder George Marty said. “There’s a lot we can improve on. We didn’t have a good first half, but switching formations enabled us to open up more and find that goal.”
The Tommies travel to Southern California to take on Claremont Mudd-Scripps College Friday. The Stags are 2-2 this season.
Jacob Schneider can be reached at schn6923@stthomas.edu.