A flat second half wiped out sophomore forward Abby Brantners’ ninth-minute goal, as the St. Thomas women’s soccer team dropped its home finale 2-1 to South Dakota Sunday at South Field.
The Tommies (6-5-3, 2-3-1 Summit League) kept the Coyotes (3-6-5, 2-1-2 Summit) on their heels for most of the first half before falling flat in the second, giving up two goals.
“We came into the second half overconfident,” head coach Sheila McGill said. “I don’t think we gave them the credit that’s due.”
Branter’s goal came as she broke away from defenders to catch up to a pass from sophomore defender Annika Eckroth, putting the ball past the goalkeeper and putting the Tommies up 1-0.
The remainder of the first half was the Tommies’ to lose as they allowed only one corner kick and one shot on goal.
“We came out ready to play,” McGill said. “We put the ball away on an early opportunity and really dominated that half.”
The Tommies also brought the momentum to the second half, putting two shots on goal in the 46th minute and getting five shots off before South Dakota could get one.
“We talked about it at halftime, that this is a second-half team,” McGill said. “We came out of it, and we came out casual, and that’s not OK.”
The tone shifted in the 77th minute after a St. Thomas handball in the box gave the Coyotes a penalty kick, which blew past sophomore goalkeeper Kendell Ellis to tie the game.
“It wasn’t the goals that were scored; it was that we stopped playing,” McGill said. “We didn’t connect, and we didn’t do the things we needed to do.”
South Dakota took the lead in the 84th minute after a shot bounced through traffic and into the back of the Tommie net.
The Tommies played a frantic five minutes but could not even the score before time expired.
“The overall standpoint is that it’s a learning experience, and we can’t take anything lightly,” McGill said. “Even if you dominate the one half, it doesn’t mean the second is going to be the same.”
The Tommies hit the road for the remainder of their season, first taking on Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. St. Thomas’ remaining games are conference matchups against Nebraska-Omaha, Dever and Western Illinois.
Sam Larson can be reached at lars4378@stthomas.edu.