Two goals from midfielder Miles Stockman-Willis carried the St. Thomas men’s soccer team past a back-and-forth start to cruise past Bethel 6-0 Tuesday at home.

Entering the game, St. Thomas (7-3-0 overall, 3-0-0 MIAC) was looking to build off its 4-0 win Saturday at St. Mary’s. Coach Jon Lowery said determination was the biggest reason for the team’s success against the Royals.

“We’re realistic about where we’re at and we’re motivated by where we want to go,” Lowery said. “Bethel has played an incredibly hard schedule, and they played everybody tough, so we knew what we were up against.”

Despite hitting the post twice early on, St. Thomas was able to continue its barrage of shots. Late in the first half, the Tommies finally notched their first goal when midfielder Zack Fennessy found the back of the net.

“Miles played the ball in (on a corner kick), and Bethel cleared it out,” Fennessy said. “It fell right to me, and I kept it low and in the corner.”

Less than three minutes later, St. Thomas’ doubled its lead when Stockman-Willis added his first goal of the game.

“There was space in behind them all game, so we exploited it for the first half,” Stockman-Willis said. “I started to run and (Fennessy) floated a beautiful ball. The goalie came out a little early and it presented an easy chip.”

With the score 2-0 in favor of the Tommies, Lowery said the focus at halftime was persistence.

“We made a lot of changes at halftime. I think the message was ‘let’s go out and finish this game,’” Lowery said. “2-0 is not where we wanted it to end, so I give the guys a lot of credit for capitalizing on the opportunity.”

In the second half, the Tommies started fast and put the game out of reach for the Royals. Stockman-Willis netted his second goal of the match just four minutes into the half on a pass from defender Mark Heydt.

St. Thomas later added goals from forward Shae Bottum, forward Matt Bouche and midfielder Eric Meyer. Midfielders Ignacio Garcia and Josh Boris tallied the assists.

“Depth was key,” Stockman-Willis said. “Our first 11 were giving it to them the whole game. Once we got a couple goals, the reserves came in and kept pounding them. Bethel got no respite.”

Lowery said that although he is very happy with the team’s performance, it still has a long way to go.

“We are not anywhere near where we want to be. Having said that, we are doing a great job getting there,” Lowery said. “If we can just keep a humble perspective and keep working hard, we’ll keep getting better one day at a time.”

St. Thomas is back in action Saturday as the team heads down the street to face off against Hamline University.

Andrew Frentz can be reached at fren2218@stthomas.edu.