Women’s soccer advances to MIAC semifinals

The St. Thomas women’s soccer team advanced to the MIAC semifinals after defeating St. Ben’s on penalty kicks Tuesday afternoon in Collegeville, Minnesota. The teams were tied at 1-1 after regulation and extra time, but the Tommies converted on two of their first three penalty kicks, which were enough to send them to the conference semifinals.

Things looked bleak late for St. Thomas after St. Ben’s opened the scoring in the 75th minute, however, with just 94 seconds remaining in regulation, senior defender Kate Steuer scored her first goal of her career to send the game to extra time. The teams eventually went to a shootout where St. Ben’s missed its first four penalty kicks, opening the door for the St. Thomas victory.

Midfielder Kari Solheim and forward Brielle Bierman both converted on their kicks in the shootout. Coach Sheila McGill said depth was key to the team’s success.

“Over the course of the year, they worked hard; and we had a lot of contributing people for goal scoring, so it wasn’t just one player that made the goals happen,” McGill said. “It made it much more dangerous to have multiple people who are scoring goals.”

McGill said the hard work and determination the team put in during the entire season helped the Tommies finish out.

“Even with only 10 minutes left, they were fighting hard. With five minutes left they were fighting hard. With three minutes left, they were fighting hard for the goal. And they ended up getting it with only a minute and 34 seconds left in the game,” McGill said.

Defender Hailey Zweber said the team’s chemistry has been an important element for its success on the field.

“I think that our team has been really close on and off the field, and we have good team chemistry. We work really hard and work really well together,” Zweber said. “I think the friendship that we’ve created has helped us get this far.”

St. Thomas lost 1-0 to Augsburg in the conference semifinals Wednesday.

Men’s soccer season ends after Carleton loss

The St. Thomas men’s soccer team was not so fortunate in its first game of the MIAC tournament. The team’s season ended with a 2-0 loss to Carleton in the MIAC quarterfinals Tuesday in Northfield, Minnesota, concluding the year with a 9-8-2 overall record.

Goaltender Mitchell Wolff said the season-ending loss is tough to swallow.

“In the end, it was a disappointing result,” Wolff said. “And for me being a senior, it was doubly disappointing considering it was the last game I’ll play for St. Thomas.”

Wolff said that although the season ended sooner than he would have liked, the team performed admirably.

“We definitely had a lot of ups and downs,” Wolff said. “At the end of the season, I was really happy that we made the playoffs because we made a big push to string together a couple of good results.”

Wolff said wins and losses aren’t all he will take away from his time with the Tommies.

“You learn a lot of life skills, life lessons. It teaches you a lot about hard work,” Wolff said. “Being a student-athlete is a really special privilege.”

Although this year’s season was cut short, Wolff thought the future still looks bright.

“The St. Thomas soccer program right now, it’s headed for big things in the next couple years,” Wolff said. “To be able to say that I was a part of it … It was pretty special.”