Senior Ryan McNeil scored the go-ahead goal and had an assist on the game-tying goal as the Tommies defeated North Dakota State 8-6 in the UMLC semifinals Saturday at Mahtomedi High School.
St. Thomas trailed the Bison 5-2 less than a minute into the third quarter before rallying.
On the go-ahead goal, junior Sam Turner lost control of the ball to the left of the North Dakota State goalie and the ball rolled to NcNeil, who carried the ball around the net and fired a shot past Bison goalie Rhett Piper with 11:09 left. The maneuver gave the Tommies a 6-5 lead they would not relinquish.
“I just picked up the ball and saw an opening,” McNeil said. “They were playing zone on us all game and I took the opportunity.”
St. Thomas coach Brian Gross liked the effort he saw from McNeil Saturday.
“Ryan played like the Ryan McNeil that we are used to seeing,” Gross said. “He got a pension for coming up big in these big games so I’m not surprised to see it.”
McNeil scored the opening goal of the game about 10 minutes in as well.
Senior Andrew Sotis also contributed two goals for the Tommies while sophomore Alex Vijums, junior Ben Taufen and junior Erik Thysse each scored once.
Senior Austin Dover made seven saves in net for the Tommies.
“Anytime you can hold another team to six goals, especially a team that’s capable of much higher offensive outputs than that … Our defense played really well,” Gross said.
St. Thomas will now take on Saint John’s in the UMLC championship game Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the West St. Paul Dome.
The Tommies have won three straight UMLC playoff titles with their last loss coming to Saint John’s in 2014, McNeil’s first season.
“We want that revenge and it’s Tommie-Johnnie, it’s round two so it will be a fun game,” NcNeil said.
The Tommies beat the Johnnies 13-11 in their regular season meeting April 7 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
Gross recognizes the rivalry but knows his team needs to focus on the game itself.
“It will be emotional for sure, but after the first five minutes and all the hooting and hollering dies down, it’s just two teams playing another lacrosse game,” Gross said. “We feel like we are really well prepared for them, we just have to come out and be ready to go.”
Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.