Led by two first-half goals from forward Matt Bouche, the St. Thomas men’s soccer team routed Concordia-Moorhead 6-0 Tuesday at South Field.
The Tommies (7-2 overall, 3-1 MIAC) dominated the Cobbers (1-9 overall, 0-4 MIAC) from the opening kickoff. Bouche said the team’s focus on keeping things simple carried over to the match.
“In practice we focused on playing the obvious pass, and today we just tried to focus on playing that easy one to break open their defense,” Bouche said. “As you can tell, six goals, we figured it out. Did our game plan perfectly.”
Bouche scored his first goal in the 18th minute with a left-footed drive from the right wing. He increased the Tommie lead to 2-0 in the 25th minute, finishing off a touch pass from forward Miles Stockman-Willis. Stockman-Willis said the Tommies knew they would have offensive chances as long as they stayed level-headed.
“Concordia, they got sucked over to one side, so if we had good possession in some wide areas the weak side was almost always on,” Stockman-Willis said. “We just tried to be patient because, I mean, we’re a better team and we couldn’t get frustrated with missed opportunities and just things not going our way (early on).”
The Tommies continued their relentless pressure following Bouche’s goals. Stockman-Willis notched his fifth goal of the season on a free kick in the 28th minute and defender Mark Heydt added his second of the season in the 40th minute, weaving through traffic before scoring on a shot from the top of the box.
Coach Jon Lowery said recent losses at home provided extra motivation for a strong start to the match.
“We’ve been playing well, but we also had a little extra inside of us,” Lowery said. “We dropped our last two home games, and it’s really important for us to win here. I think that was definitely in the front of our minds.”
St. Thomas continued its strong play in the second half, once again peppering Concordia-Moorhead goalkeeper Ben Glogoza with shots from all over.
Forward Shae Bottum made it 5-0 Tommies in the 53rd minute, scoring his first of the season on a shot into the lower left corner of the net. Stockman-Willis and forward Christian Elliehausen assisted on the goal.
Forward Paul Florczak scored the game’s final goal on a one-time shot in the 84th minute, with an assist going to forward Adam Panken.
Not to be overlooked in the offensive onslaught was the Tommies’ tight defensive play. The Cobbers managed only one attempted shot – zero on net – the entire match.
“It’s the second time this year we haven’t given up a single shot on goal and that was all we talked about,” Lowery said. “I think we have an attack that is more dynamic than it has been in years past, but most importantly we’re predicated on our defensive shape, and the guys did a good job keeping them out today.”
Lowery said the team will try and build on the positives from Tuesday going into a tough match this Saturday.
“We’ll take the good out of it. There’s some stuff I think we can do a lot better out of it,” Lowery explained. “We’re going to Hamline on Saturday. It’s one of the most difficult games on our schedule. It’s a tough place to play, and they’re very motivated against us.”
The Tommies and Pipers meet Saturday at 11 a.m. at Hamline.
Willie Faust can be reached at faus5612@stthomas.edu.