History was made today as the University of St. Thomas men’s soccer defeated Luther College 2-0, sending them to their first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in program history.

The Tommies started off early with a goal from forward Christian Elliehausen just three minutes into the game. Forward Pierce Erickson slotted him a pass through two Luther defenders, and Elliehausen sent a curving shot on the ground that found its way to the far post.

“Going up early gave us loads of confidence knowing that we could take this game and go to the next round,” Elliehausen said.

Senior forward Tony Kuplic scored the Tommie’s second goal of the game in the 73rd minute. His original header was stopped by Norse goalkeeper Tolith Gidaga, but he followed it up with a second header that found the back of the net.

“I’m just really grateful to the coaches for giving me a shot,” Kuplic said, nearly out of breath with excitement following the game.

This is Kuplic’s third goal of the NCAA tournament and his third goal of his career, with him playing in only ten games. Kuplic scored the game tying and the game winning goal for the Tommies on Saturday.

The game was close and intense for all 90 minutes. A total of seven yellow cards were shown between the two teams, and one red card was shown to Luther’s Nigel Nielsen.

“It’s win or go home, knockout style soccer, and everything is on the table,” head coach Jon Lowery said. “We got to fight, we also got to play, and I think we did enough of both.”

A large part of the Tommie’s success this year has come from the depth of their bench. The Tommies have had 20 different players play in ten or more games for St. Thomas this season.

“We have 24 guys right now that are ready for their chance to step up,” Elliehausen said. “We saw that today, a bunch of us went down injured, but the level of play never went down.”

Lowery remembers sitting down with current seniors of the team when they were in their first year and convincing them to buy into the program.

“I don’t have a lot to show you right now, but if you buy into this we are going to get somewhere, and we are going to do it together,” Lowery said.

The Tommies now head on to their first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in program history. They will await the results of the other teams in their region to see where they will head next.

“I feel proud of where we are at,” Lowry said. “It’s another step forward for the program to go to the Sweet 16, so a great day in all.”

Peter Monahan can be reached at mona7035@stthomas.edu.