Men are back, polished and reloaded

With a 2-1 record in the infancy of a new season, forward Alex Bernhardt has helped establish a solid precedence for the St. Thomas men’s soccer team with his three goals in the team’s first three games.

Coming off a 7-2-1 conference record last season, the Tommies are looking to improve from the team’s third place MIAC finish in 2012.

Coach Jon Lowery said the team wants to learn from each game.

“We want to make sure that we’re using our non-conference to build depth, get guys experience and polish our game to the point that when we do get in conference, we can get the results we need,” Lowery said. “I think our focus is pretty simple: we’re just trying to get better.”

As the second pick in the MIAC preseason coaches poll, the Tommies ranked a close-six points behind Carleton, a team that snagged an overall 93 points. Gustavus was next (77) with 10 points standing between them and the Tommies.

Despite the team’s strong ranking, Lowery said his players aren’t giving it much thought.

“The preseason poll is a testament to what we may have and the way people may perceive what we have,” Lowery said. “At the end of the day, we’re not naive and know that it’s only as good as we get on a daily basis that’s going to give us an opportunity to finish that high in the conference.”

For forward Nick Rapisarda, the team’s high ranking is a motivating factor.

“It’s good to see that we’re getting recognized year after year as being a good team, one of the top four teams in the conference,” Rapisarda said. “It definitely raises our own expectations for ourselves … obviously it shows that other people have high expectations, too.”

With Carleton favored to come out on top, the Tommies will face tough competition against the Knights in their MIAC duel during the regular season.

Midfielder Ryan Bernhardt said Carleton isn’t the only team St. Thomas needs to keep on its radar.

“St. Olaf and Gustavus, they’re always very good in our conference,” Ryan Bernhardt said.

Lowery said the team’s newly installed turf on the South Campus Fields will give it an advantage at home.

“It gives us an opportunity I think to attack in different places that we just couldn’t find last year,” Lowery said. “We’re having a heck of a time figuring it out … but I think as we move forward this is just going to be a tremendous home field advantage for us.”

Even with the Tommies returning many key players to its roster such as MIAC Player of the Year Rapisarda and All-Region defender Kit Weaver along with three strong transfer students, Lowery said the team’s success will be dependent on a group effort.

“We’ve said from day one when I got in here a year and a half ago, we’ve got to be collective to be effective,” Lowery said. “We’re not looking at any one individual to put the weight of everyone else on their back.”

Strong leadership and redemption fuel the women

Despite its 5-4-2 conference record last fall, forward Katy Scherer is hoping to lead the women’s soccer team to a stronger finish this season.

“I think last year was kind of a learning season for us,” Scherer said. “We’re expecting a lot more out of this season, especially within our MIAC games.”

The women start with a 1-1 record so far this season under the leadership of coach Sheila McGill who is in her seventh season with the team.

With 14 juniors and seniors returning to its roster, the Tommies have seasoned players and the leadership of four senior captains including Scherer, midfielder Jaclyn Glaser, forward Jenna Savino, and recently injured defender Katy Matystrand.

After tearing her ACL in the team’s opening game of the season, Matystrand will lead from the sidelines for her senior season.

McGill said the captains’ leadership will reach the team from all angles.

“I love the fact that we have someone on each line: the bench, the back line, the midfield line, and the forward line that can each lead,” McGill said.

For defender Victoria Vargas, having a strong upperclassmen presence on the team is comforting as an underclassman teammate, both on and off the field.

“Having a whole bunch of upperclassmen to help you out helps with school, it helps with life, it helps with soccer,” Vargas said. “If you have a question on the field, during the game, or at practice, you can always be like ‘what do you want me to do? Help me to help you.’”

Tying for third with St. Olaf in the MIAC coaches preseason poll, the Tommies will face tough competition in St. Benedict and Concordia-Moorhead. McGill said Macalester is also a team to watch out for.

McGill also said approaching each game the same way is what the team needs to succeed.

“For us it will be (being) ready to show up and play at every single game,” she said.

Matystrand said the team will need to maintain strong chemistry for success on the field.

“Keeping the team chemistry throughout the entire season, just keeping ourselves going together and focusing on that relationship throughout the whole season,” Matystrand said.

McGill said the adjustment to playing on the new turf field will be beneficial in more ways than one.

“Turf changes the game slightly in the sense of everything is faster,” McGill said. “We should be more fit, we should be able to get into bigger spaces because it’s a very large field on top of the fact that we don’t have to deal with mud and all the other casualties that happen in the rainy season of September and October.”

Sean Crotty can be reached at crot0230@stthomas.edu.