The St. Thomas men’s soccer team (0-5-0) suffered their fifth straight loss of the season after a goal 36 minutes into the first half by Drake (3-1-0). Senior forward Bradan Allen punched in the lone goal to win the physical match.
Sophomore goalkeeper Tucker Mann had five saves in a 1-0 loss to Drake University Monday in the Tommies’ first home game at the Division I level.
“It’s tough to lose one-zero in your first home game, it’s not how you want to start off your home season,” Mann said. “We’ve just got to keep going, keep pushing. We’ll get that first win.”
The Tommies’ early season record may seem disheartening, but three of their games thus far have been decided by one goal, which head coach Jon Lowery attributes to getting comfortable at the new level of competition.
“You know, our margin for error is much smaller now. We used to average 12-16 chances on goal a game,” Lowery said. “Now, we’re gonna average 4-8, so I think getting comfortable with having to be that efficient is a high level thing to have to digest.”
St. Thomas outshot Drake in the match with 9 shots on goal to the Bulldogs’ 8, but were unable to get the ball to the back of the net. St. Thomas’ offense forced Drake redshirt senior goalkeeper Jared Brown to make eight saves on the day.
Senior defender and co-captain Sam Holton knows that his team needs to capitalize on the opportunities they had in the game.
“We had a few chances right in front of the goal that needed to be buried. They got their one scrappy chance in front of us and put it in,” Holton said. “That’s what we have to do out there. Just be hungry for the net and put them in.”
Coach Lowery is staying optimistic that a win will come for his team as they transition into the next part of the season with the start of classes Wednesday.
“No matter what happens, we’re going to be OK and we’re going to go again,” Lowery said. “We have a few other things that we have to navigate with school starting on Wednesday, but we’re gonna get ready for Gonzaga tomorrow and Wednesday and we’re gonna go again.”
St. Thomas is set to play in a match against Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington on September 10.
Cam Kauffman can be reached at kauf8536@stthomas.edu.