The St. Thomas men’s soccer team returned Kansas City’s early lead Friday at South Field and left the game in a 1-1 tie when sophomore forward Dennis Mensah Jr. cleared a goal against the Roos’ defense in the 65th minute of the game.
The Tommies (1-4-2, 0-1-1 Summit League) struggled with a series of mistakes and miscommunications after the Roos’ (2-3-4, 0-0-2) early goal, though Mensah says that the team rallied together during halftime to turn the tide.
“(Coach Lowery) just told us, ‘Hey, someone has to go out there and score a goal,’” Mensah said. “He looked at me and said, ‘D, go get one in.’ Everybody looked at me and said ‘Go get one in.’ … I just hit it, and it went in, and it brought the team back in the game.”
Both teams maintained their intensity in the second half, with multiple hard-hitting shots on both sides. Though the Roos dominated possession for the last 15 minutes, the Tommies successfully fended them off for the tie.
Sophomore Kansas City forward Luke Hoelting broke the silence of the first half, squeezing in a goal past tight St. Thomas defense during the 23rd minute of the game.
The Roos followed up on their momentum with an unsuccessful shot on goal one minute later, and though St. Thomas managed two shots on goal in the final 10 minutes of the half, the game remained largely locked at midfield until Mensah evened the score, assisted by sophomore midfielder Gunnar Busch.
“What I saw today was guys who really believed in it, and executed at a level that got us a draw, and the frustration is that we could have executed (at) a level where we were walking out with all three points,” coach Jon Lowery said.
The Tommies will face off against regional rival University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (3-4-1) in a non-conference game on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at home.
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.
Cooper Wood can be reached at wood8301@stthomas.edu.