Both St. Thomas soccer teams won Saturday against the Bethel Royals. The women earned the top seed in the MIAC and a first-round bye in the conference playoffs, while the men earned the No. 4 seed and will host Augsburg Oct. 29 in the first round. Reporter Jacob Schneider has both game recaps from the doubleheader.
Women’s soccer rolls through Bethel, secures MIAC top seed
Forward Mallory DeBoom and defender McKenna Peplinski celebrated Senior Day Saturday at South Field by leading the St. Thomas women’s soccer team to a 2-0 victory over the Bethel Royals.
The Tommies (16-2-1 overall, 10-1-0 MIAC) earned the top seed in the MIAC conference playoffs with the win and will have a first round bye, while the Royals l(13-3-1 overall, 8-2-1 MIAC) earned the second seed and a first-round bye.
“We played a really great game against a really great team today,” coach Sheila McGill said. “We focused on today, and now we focus on Wednesday. We want to win these playoffs and have a run at the NCAA tournament.”
Peplinski opened up the scoring for the Tommies in the 10th minute off of an assist by Brie Bourdage. Peplinski also registered an assist
“Brie played me a perfect ball, and I thought to myself, ‘well, I have to do something good with this,’” Peplinski said. “It was slotted perfectly, and I wouldn’t have been able to get my shot off without her.”
DeBoom contributed her 108th career point in the second half, scoring what turned out to be the game-winning goal for the Tommies.
“I got played a really great ball, and I knew I had to play it,” she said. “The defender was on me, but I got a shot off and it went in, so yeah, it felt really great.”
The Tommies play again on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m., where they will take on the winner of St. Catherine versus St. Benedict.
Men’s soccer clinches MIAC No. 4 seed with win against Bethel
Senior midfielder Will Kidd and forward George Marty tallied a goal and an assist each Saturday at Southfield, helping lead the St. Thomas men’s soccer team to a 4-0 victory over the Bethel Royals.
The Tommies (7-2-1 MIAC, 14-3-1 overall) piled on the points against the Royals (1-8-1 MIAC, 4-12-1 overall), scoring three of their four goals in the second half alone.
“Bethel had a really good defensive scheme in the first half, and it was very easy to get frustrated, but we just kept chipping away” coach Jon Lowery said. “We broke them down and then we started scoring.”
Kidd opened up the scoring for the Tommies, slotting home off of a Jacob Mikela assist in the 40th minute. Kidd recorded his assist in the second period with a pass to Lucas Horton in the 53rd minute.
“I’m happy I scored, but I’m onto the (playoffs)” Kidd said. “We treat every game the same, so today wasn’t much different. We went out, scored, and finished it off.”
Marty assisted defender Jack Barry on the second goal of the match in the 50th minute, before scoring a goal himself in the 67th minute.
“I take whatever minutes I can get and make the most of them” Marty said. “The goal was pretty cool, I didn’t think it would go in, but it rested in the top corner. It feels really good to score.”
The Tommies finished fourth in the MIAC and now host Augsburg Oct. 30 in the first round of the MIAC playoffs.
Jacob Schneider can be reached at schn6923@stthomas.edu