St. Thomas women’s soccer ties Wartburg in defensive battle

St. Thomas midfielder Mari Ferrer-Lugo fighting Wartburg’s Sarah Campbell for the ball. (Sophia Primozich/TommieMedia)

The St. Thomas women’s soccer team tied 0-0 in double overtime against the Wartburg Knights in a rainy, cold non-conference game Wednesday at South Field.

Coach Sheila McGill noted that the weather contributed to the outcome of the match, with the team playing “out of their comfort zone.”

“We’re a technical team,” McGill said. “On a wet day a lot of our touches were just off enough because of the wet and the speed.”

No goals were scored by either team, but the Knights (6-1-3) had six shots-on-goal and the Tommies (6-2-1) had three.

Junior forward Tessa Trettel made a shot attempt to get the Tommies on the board with 3:35 left in the first half.

The second half had two shots-on-goal, one towards the beginning by sophomore forward and midfielder Kristen Epperly with 37:19 left in regulation and another by junior midfielder Paige Cater with nine minutes remaining in regulation.

“I think we did what we wanted to do for the most part,” Epperly said. “I think we could have done better, but we learn from it and that’s okay.”

McGill noted that this game was a “growing moment” for the team.

“The tie doesn’t hurt or help us,” McGill said. “It just is what it is. It’s something that we are going to learn from, grow from and continue to put forward.”

St. Thomas travels to Bethel Saturday with a kickoff time of 3:30 p.m. at Ona Orth Athletic Complex in Arden Hills.

Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.