Behind forward Mallory DeBoom’s first-half goal, the St. Thomas women’s soccer team defeated St. Benedict 1-0 Wednesday afternoon at South Field.

The Tommies (5-4 overall, 3-1 MIAC) survived immense pressure from the Blazers (5-3-2 overall, 3-1 MIAC) during the second half to emerge with the victory. Coach Sheila McGill said a defensive focus in practice was key to the win.

“I think the biggest part was we really focused on our defensive unit over the last couple of days to try and get it stronger as an entire block of eight back there,” McGill explained.

DeBoom scored the game’s only goal on a deflection in the 34th minute. After forward Paige Wilberding drew a hard foul just outside the box, she sent a beautiful free kick to the front of the net that DeBoom tapped home.

“All I wanted to do was make sure the girl did not get on me, and I just wanted that first touch,” DeBoom said.

Neither team was able to generate much offense early, with St. Ben’s having the better of the few chances. DeBoom’s goal seemed to spark the Tommies, as they spent much of the latter stages of the first half in the Blazers’ end.

St. Ben’s came out of the gates strong in the second half. In the team’s best chance of the game, Blazer forward Valerie Clintsman was the recipient of a pass that left her all alone in front of the net. St. Thomas escaped unscathed after Clintsman rushed the shot and missed the goal wide left.

McGill pointed to poor passing by the Tommies as a big reason for the Blazers’ second half pressure.

“When we connect, we are so much stronger,” she said. “Those connections weren’t necessarily on; we weren’t finding them and we weren’t able to hold on to them when it was happening. That put us under a lot of pressure, and that’s something we can work on moving forward.”

Despite long stretches of control, the Blazers could not find the back of the net. A number of good chances either missed the net or were turned away by Tommie goalkeeper Tarynn Theilig.

With the win, Theilig earned her second shutout of the season. Theilig said she and the Tommie defenders had some extra incentive going into the match.

“We found an article (someone) wrote before the game, and it was like ‘St. Thomas’ defense is the third worst in the MIAC,’ and they were like ‘Tarynn lets in about one-and-a-half, two goals per game…’ We found that and that gave us a ton of motivation.”

The win was an important one for the Tommies, who went into the game tied with St. Ben’s for second place in the MIAC standings. With less than half the season to play, McGill said the Tommies can build on their strong defensive play going forward.

“I think (today) gave the girls confidence that if they defend hard and well they can still win games,” she said. “I think that’s something…we like to attack; we don’t like to defend as much. I think taking that today is going to help us moving forward.”

St. Thomas returns to the pitch this Saturday at home against Macalester.

Willie Faust can be reached at faus5612@stthomas.edu.