The St. Thomas men’s soccer team lost 2-1 against Gustavus in its conference opener Wednesday night at South Field.

The Tommies’ (0-1 MIAC, 1-3-3 overall) last five games have gone into double overtime resulting in either a tie or a loss.

“Right now, we struggle to understand the height and awareness it takes to win close games,” coach Jon Lowery said. “We’ve proven that we can’t with one win out of seven.”

The Gusties (1-0 MIAC, 5-1 overall) started the game off hot with Cole Schwartz scoring a goal ten minutes into play.

Just five minutes later, the Tommies answered back with a Jake-to-Jake connection.

Tommie forward Jake Amey scored off an assist from forward Jake Makela tying the game 1-1.

Both teams battled back and forth for scoring opportunities in the second half, but the Gusties capitalized on a play to score in the 62nd minute of regulation.

“The biggest challenge was being clinical in the final third,” sophomore defenseman and captain Ethan Andersen said. “We weren’t able to put our chances away which was the difference.”

Things are not going according to script Lowery said, but it’s a good lesson for his team and proposes a new challenge.

“We need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, stop feeling like we deserve something and start earning something,” Lowery said.

Despite recent defeats, determination within the Tommies remains.

“Something’s gotta change and we will change it,” Lowery said. “We aren’t going to stop fighting.”

The Tommies travel to Augsburg Saturday night with a kickoff time of 7 p.m.

Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu.