Midfielder Taylor Skorik steals the ball from St. Olaf’s defense. Skorik took it up the field to assist on the Tommies next goal. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Forward Mallory DeBoom runs up on opposer Kaylyn Billmeyer. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Forward Mallory DeBoom passes to a teammate in the second half. DeBoom has three goals and four assists this season. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Defensive midfielder Hailey Zweber lines up for a corner kick. Zweber had one shot on goal in Wednesday’s game. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Forward Mallory DeBoom steals the ball from the St. Olaf defense in Wednesday’s home game. St Thomas women’s soccer beat St. Olaf 1-0, scoring early in the second half. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Goalkeeper Tarynn Theilig dives to deflect the shot fired off by St.Olaf’s forward. The ball narrowly missed the goal, maintaining the Tommies’ lead of 1-0. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Head coach Sheila McGill talks to her team during half. McGill has coached for 10 years and recently celebrated the team’s 100 win. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Defensive midfielder Mary Ennis reacts after taking a ball to the face. Ennis was unharmed from the impact. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Forward Elizabeth Muench maneuvers the ball around St. Olaf’s Sarah Behr in the first half. The Tommies and Oles were tied 0-0 until the middle of the second half when St. Thomas scored the sole goal of the game. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Midfielder Tess Baier throws the ball into play from the sidelines. St. Thomas is currently on a home winning streak of five games. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Defensive midfielder McKenna Peplinski kicks the ball past the Oles’ defense to a teammate. Peplinski has scored two goals this season. (Natalie Hall/TommieMedia)
Tess Baier fights for possession of the ball. Out-of-bounds gets called in favor for Saint Thomas. (Ben Burke/TommieMedia)
Brie Bourdage netted the lone goal for the St. Thomas women’s soccer team in the 67th minute to defeat St. Olaf 1-0 Wednesday in St. Paul.
Bourdage scored on a three person passing play along with Mary Ennis and Mallory DeBoom. A St. Olaf defender deflected Ennis’ pass but Bourdage was able to regain control and put the ball in the back of the net.
St. Thomas coach Sheila McGill said the goal was scored on a play the Tommies had been practicing.
“It is what we worked on,” McGill said. “It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but it worked.”
Apart from Bourdage’s goal, the Tommies (9-0-1 overall, 4-0-1 MIAC) and the Oles (6-4-1 overall, 3-3-0 MIAC) each played strong defense.
The Tommie defense was led by goalkeeper Tarynn Theilig who made eight saves and recorded her eighth shutout of the season.
There were not many scoring chances by either team apart from the Tommie goal but St. Olaf made an effort to tie the match in the final minutes, failing to convert on corner and free kicks.
The Oles best chance came with about a minute to go in the match when Theilig’s goal kick was quickly intercepted and shot by a St. Olaf player. It looked as if the shot was going in the net but Theilig jumped and tipped the ball over the crossbar.
“Tarynn knows she made a mistake in the first place and that’s why she had to make the save,” McGill said. “She came up big and covered her own mistake so I think we can give her a bit of a resolve.”
While she is happy with the win, McGill would like her team to finish better and not have the tense moments like the final minutes.
“We have to learn how to kill a game more than just sitting back and defending,” McGill said. “We need to play more in the opponent’s half of the field in the last twenty minutes.”
The Tommies’ next game is 7 p.m. Saturday at Macalester.
Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.