Junior midfielder Amos Nash fields a goal kick for St. Thomas in a game against St. Olaf on Oct. 12. The Tommies tied the Oles 0-0. (Noah Brown/TommieMedia)
Junior Shae Bottum is greeted into the huddle before the game. Both team’s defenses held strong the entire game. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Josh Boris dips and dodges through an opponent to get the ball. Boris took the ball up the field for a shot on net. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Senior Amos Nash goes full force into the opposing player and his ball. Nash proceeded to take it further down the field to make a pass. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Junior Walter Alvarado digs down deep to obtain the ball. Alvarado passed to a nearby teammate to take a shot on goal.
Mark Heydt winds up for a shot on net. The shot was saved by St. Olaf’s goal keeper. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Senior Mark Heydt does a stop and start to pursue the ball. Heydt passed to a nearby teammate.(Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Junior Josh Boris sprints up against number 20 for St. Olaf. The score was 0-0 at the end of the first half. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia).
The Tommie Men’s Soccer team played St. Olaf to a draw on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at St. Thomas, extending their undefeated streak to 13 games.
Both teams had opportunities to score, and the Tommies came very close on several occasions in the second overtime period to put the game away. However, impressive outings by St. Olaf goalkeeper Ben Braman and Tommie goalkeeper Grant Larson made sure that the game would end in a tie.
“Obviously, we need to put the ball in the net,” Larson said after the game, “but otherwise that was pretty good.”
The Tommie defense played better than “pretty good” Wednesday. They blanketed the St. Olaf defense, denying all eight shots on goal.
“The four [defensemen] in front of us do a really good job not letting opposing teams get shots off,” Larson said. “It makes it easy when we don’t have to make saves.”
That St. Thomas defense has been rock solid all season and has not allowed a goal since Sept. 14 when they tied St. John’s 1-1.
The tie brings Saint Thomas’ record to 10-0-3 and first in the MIAC. Macalester, ranked second, is a full seven points behind the Tommies in the standings.
St. Thomas will start a four-game away stand against St. Scholastica on Oct. 16 before coming home to finish the season against Augsburg on Oct. 29.
The team has played well up to this point, but Larson said there is one thing they need to get better at: “Score more goals. We’ve got to get the ball in the net.”
Noah Brown can be reached at brow7736@stthomas.edu