Forward Shae Bottum called it “the worst four minutes of my life.”
Goalkeeper Grant Larson said it “felt like a lifetime.”
Clinging to a one-goal lead over top-seeded Macalester Wednesday night at Macalester Stadium, the St. Thomas men’s soccer team clamped down in the game’s final minutes to seal a 2-1 win over the Scots and clinch a berth in the MIAC championship game.
Macalester (13-1-5 overall, 8-0-2 MIAC) entered Wednesday’s contest unbeaten, while the Tommies faced difficult odds coming into the matchup as the sixth seed in the conference tournament. One would think forward Miles Stockman-Willis and the Tommies hadn’t been paying attention to those rankings though.
“Right when the polls came out, we knew we weren’t the sixth seed,” Stockman-Willis said. “We always bounce back. We’re ripping teams; we’re ending seasons. We’re the team to beat.”
The teams battled to a scoreless tie in the first half, but it was clear from the onset the Tommies wouldn’t be intimidated by the Scots. St. Thomas (12-6-1 overall, 5-4-1 MIAC) outshot Macalester 3-1 and held a 2-0 edge in corner kicks in the first frame.
While the second half began scoreless, there was plenty of action later on.
St. Thomas was awarded a corner kick – one of five the Tommies would take Wednesday – and set up with a chance to take the lead. Defender Mark Heydt lined up and unleashed a beautiful arching ball toward the Scots’ net and a sea of Tommies.
“Great service is all I saw,” Stockman-Willis said. “The goalie went out, Shae got a little deflection, (and) it bounced over the keeper’s hands. I just tried to get my body and deflect it toward the goal.”
Stockman-Willis’ eighth goal of the season gave the Tommies a 1-0 lead in the 63rd minute. Knowing a single goal likely wouldn’t be enough against against a team with offensive talent like Macalester’s – 11 different Scots scored this year – St. Thomas kept pressing.
That dogged determination paid off when St. Thomas was awarded a penalty kick in the 83rd minute. Faced with a chance to extend the lead, coach Jon Lowery chose not to let Heydt, one of his primary options in that scenario, take the kick.
“Mark has taken four this year. I have a ton of respect for Macalester’s staff, and I know they do more than enough of their homework,” Lowery said.
Instead, Lowery opted for Bottum.
“They weren’t going to have any idea where he was going to go,” Lowery said.
Bottum delivered, beating Scots goalkeeper Zeke Vainer and extending the Tommie lead to 2-0.
Macalester fought back and and showed why it was the best team in the MIAC this season, cutting the score to 2-1 in the 85th minute on a goal by midfielder Jamel Benhamida.
Then the countdown began for St. Thomas.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, but that was one of the longer four minutes,” Lowery said.
St. Thomas became the first sixth seed to ever advance to the conference title game with the win and will travel to Northfield Saturday to play St. Olaf for the MIAC title and an automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs.
“We’re 90 minutes away from the NCAA tournament, and I’ll play anyone right now,” Lowery said.
Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.