Senior defender Wes Lorrens was shown a red card after earning two of the six yellow cards given in the St. Thomas men’s soccer team’s 1-0 loss to Western Illinois Saturday at South Field.
The Tommies (2-10-2, 1-2-1 Summit) absorbed pressure from the Leathernecks’ (2-6-6, 2-1-2 Summit) offense in the first half. Despite allowing eight shots, the Tommies kept a clean sheet going into halftime.
“Proud of the guys; they’re representing themselves well,” coach John Lowery said. “You could just see the guys battling.”
The deadlock was broken in the 63rd minute when Leatherneck senior defender Kyle Owen sent a free kick through the hands of junior goalkeeper Tucker Mann.
After conceding the goal, Lowery decided to change his tactics, wanting his team to open the game up as much as possible to allow more offensive chances for both sides.
“It sounds crazy; you’re opening yourself up for counters, but the game was so closed for like 60 minutes,” Lowery said. “The second we opened up the game, all the sudden boom, we had two really good chances.”
In the 76th minute, a Tommie sent a breakaway pass through the Leatherneck defense, forcing graduate student midfielder Arian Mehrang to stop the attack via foul, earning a yellow card. This was Mehrang’s second yellow of the game, resulting in a red card and giving the Tommies a one-player advantage.
Using their extra man, the Tommies pushed the Leathernecks into their own half, creating several promising chances near the Leathernecks’ goal.
In the 83rd minute, however, Lorrens used his hand to swat the ball away from a Leatherneck attacker, earning his second yellow and the second red card of the game.
Now in a ten-on-ten match-up, the game opened up even more as the Tommies continued to put pressure on the Leathernecks.
With just over a minute left, the Tommies thought they had found an equalizer after poking a rebound into the goal. However, the celebrations were cut short when offside was called on the Tommies, disallowing the goal.
“This is really disappointing,” Lowery said. “We’re going to take every lesson that’s thrown at us. Some of them are fun and some are not so fun.”
The Tommies return home to face Lindenwood Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. on South Field.
Derek Badger can be reached at badg7629@stthomas.edu.