Five different players scored for the St. Thomas women’s soccer team to secure the win against St. Catherine’s 5-0 Saturday, securing a 4-1 record.

The No. 21-ranked Tommies hosted the Wildcats in St. Thomas’ first home conference game.

Even though the Tommies beat St. Kate’s last year 2-0, they knew they had to come out strong against a conference team.

“We have to take these conference games one at a time,” junior defender Brittany Cochlin said. “Our main goals for conference games are to shut the other team out and keep the intensity high.”

That is exactly what the team did. The Tommies had possession of the ball for the majority of the first half. While the intensity and effort were high, the team couldn’t put the ball in the net.

“We had so many opportunities,” Cochlin said.

Sophomore defender Stephanie McCartan said going into halftime the team knew they needed to start converting.

“We knew we had to bring the intensity up,” McCartan said. “We had great ball possession (in the first half) but didn’t shoot enough,” she said.

After the second half kick-off, the Tommies continued to control the ball and weren’t afraid to shoot. Several shots just missed the goal within the first few minutes.

Finally, McCartan scored the first goal of the game. Cheers erupted from the bench and the players on the field. McCartan, who normally doesn’t score, was all smiles.

“I was so excited,” she said “It was my first goal of the season.”

After the first goal, the Tommies kept attacking the goal and put the game out of reach. Sophomore midfielder Jaclyn Glaser scored the second goal and sophomore forward Katy Scherer added an impressive header goal, making it 3-0.

Underclassmen scored the game’s final two goals as the clock wound down. Freshman defender Ashley Wettstein scored the fourth goal and freshman forward Morgan McConachie added the fifth goal with minutes remaining in the game.

With 19 of the team’s 24 players being freshmen and sophomores, Cochlin is excited to see its young players develop and connect with teammates.

“We already have solid team chemistry,” Cochlin explained. “The more younger people we have now, the more returners we’ll have next year. It’s exciting to think about.”

“We’ve started out so well,” McCartan added. “We can only improve from here.”

Hayley Schnell can be reached at schn3912@stthomas.edu.