CHICAGO – The St. Thomas men’s soccer team lost Saturday at the University of Chicago to No. 13 Luther College 1-0 in the NCAA Division III Sweet 16.
For the second time this season, the Tommies (16-4-2) fell to the Norse (19-3-1). St. Thomas had a tough time maintaining possession in the first half.
With the midfield battle and Luther’s strong presence in the middle third, coach Jon Lowery moved the team to play a bit more defensively to reduce Luther’s control.
The game went scoreless until the Norse’s leading scorer, forward Ben Keller, knocked in a goal in the 55th minute of play.
“I thought that game would be very tight, a softer goal for us to give up was the difference,” Lowery said. “That game should have ended 0-0 and I thought there was more soccer to be played, but credit to Luther for finding it.”
The Tommies end their season with a 16-4-2 record and graduated four seniors: Will Kidd, Aidan Hogan, Andrew Stuempfig and Walter Alvarado.
“We didn’t get this far just because we are Tommies or because we hold a name,” Alvarado said. “It comes with hard work, dedication and always committing to the team first.”
Despite the 2018 season coming to an end, the team is young and Lowery believes this shows how bright their future is.
“It was a unique season,” Lowery said. “We didn’t find anything… we didn’t win a MIAC championship, we didn’t win a MIAC playoff and we didn’t win the National Championship, but there is still something really uniquely proud of what we did.”
Carly Noble can be reached nobl1781@stthomas.edu.