After a sloppy start from the young St. Thomas men’s soccer team, the Tommies were able to find their footing and battle to a 2-1 victory over Lake Forest College Friday at home.

Entering the game with a 1-1 record, St. Thomas was looking to rebound after a 4-2 loss at home against Whitworth earlier in the week. While the Tommies showed signs of sluggishness early in the game, coach Jon Lowery said he was happy with how his team responded to early adversity.

“I give them a ton of credit for finding a way to get through the game,” Lowery said. “We grew a lot today, and that’s a good thing from these early season contests.”

After Tommie goalkeeper Mitchell Wolff touched the ball outside of the box, Lake Forest got on the board first with an early strike off a set piece just outside the box. Lake Forest defender Max Shaw received a pass off the free kick and bent a powerful shot into the top left corner, just past the outstretched hands of the Tommie keeper.

St. Thomas got things together after the early deficit. After a number of good offensive breaks coming off the feet of forward Pierce Erickson and midfielder Miles Stockman-Willis, the Tommies tied the match with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Stockman-Willis got a shot off from the top of the box and was able to net the game-tying goal.

“The ball just popped out to me,” Stockman-Willis said. “I took a touch, hit it and hoped for the best … and it went in.”

The second half was a stalemate between the two sides. Good defense from both teams kept chances to a minimum.

“They were playing really physical in the back,” Erickson said. “They didn’t give you a lot of space to turn, so we couldn’t really turn and run at them. We had to try and pick them apart, which was hard to do.”

After a scoreless second half, the game headed into overtime.

More than halfway through the overtime period, St. Thomas got its chance and capitalized. Stockman-Willis crossed a ball in the air in front of the net where midfielder Amos Nash had positioned himself. With a vicious flick of the head, Nash headed the ball past the Lake Forest goalkeeper into the back of the net.

“We gutted it out,” Erickson said of his team’s victory. “We didn’t play our best soccer – that’s for sure. Sometimes when you play bad you can gut it out and win. That’s the sign of a good team.”

Lowery said the Tommies are thrilled with the win, but know the hard work is just beginning.

“I’m happy with the result, but also mindful that we have a lot to improve,” Lowery said. “To get an overtime win can really start to give that belief and that confidence and that swagger that we want to develop.”

St. Thomas is back in action Sunday as the team heads to Dubuque, Iowa to face off against No. 2-ranked Loras College.

Scott Sikich can be reached at siki3549@stthomas.edu.