DeKALB — Earning just its second loss of the season, NIU men’s soccer (3-2-1) fell to the St. Thomas University Tommies (3-1-2) in a 1-0 shutout, their first of the season.
“Hugely disappointing obviously, losing the game here at home especially with the number of chances we created,” said NIU men’s soccer head coach Ryan Swan. “But fair play to St. Thomas, they came out, they worked hard and made it really difficult for us. At the end of the day, the difference between the two two teams was a fantastic strike from their kids. We just didn’t have the conviction or finishing. And when you don’t score goals, it’s difficult to win games.”
The Huskies dominated possession throughout the first half, creating 7 shots in the first 45, but the Tommies entered halftime with a 1-0 lead.
In the 32nd minute, Tommie freshman midfielder Ronan Selbo sent the ball into the upper right side of the net, just past the reach of NIU junior goalkeeper Atahan Arslan.
“I think our shot selection and our final quality, when we got decent looks, “ Swan said. “I think that we were rushing our looks a little bit and we didn’t quite get our body position right to finish it. I just think that the final touch or final shot wasn’t quite clean enough.”
The Huskies’ offense continued to create ample opportunities in the second half with 10 shots, but were unable to capitalize.
“We started a little bit slow in the first 45 minutes,” said senior midfielder Jose Gomez. “They were winning first and second balls, and that was the message during halftime, we needed to get better at that. We did better, but we couldn’t find the chance.”
The best chance for NIU came in the 79th minute, when Gomez stepped up to take a penalty kick. Gomez’s shot to the lower left of the goal was stopped by junior goalkeeper Moritz Krenc, leaving the Huskies still goalless.
The Huskies continued to search for the equalizer until the final minute, with Gomez taking a free kick in the 90th minute that was saved by Krenc to seal the win for the Tommies.
Gomez led the team with 4 shots, all of which were on goal. Freshman forward Niko Angulo and redshirt sophomore midfielder Joe Hernandez with three and two shots respectively. NIU totaled 17 shots total, over double the seven created by St. Thomas.
Arslan recorded 2 saves, while the Huskies forced Krenc to stop 7 shots.
“It’s a long road,” Arslan said. “We still have like 10 games left and the conference hasn’t started yet. Of course we’re pretty sad about it, but this stuff happens. We’re still a young team, and we’re improving from last year. We should be better at getting the result. This kind of stuff happens, and it will show our character in our reaction next game.”
The Huskies return to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex against Eastern Illinois University. The game will be streamed on NIU All-Access and live stats will be updated on SIDEARM Sports.
