St. Thomas men’s soccer huddling up before the start of the second half. St. Thomas suffered their first home loss of the season to Lindenwood 2-1. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
St. Thomas midfielder Charlie Hoelscher passes the ball back to the defense at South Field, Sunday Sept. 22, 2024. Hoelscher scored the lone goal for the Tommies. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
St. Thomas junior midfielder Jorge Pacheco (left) being chased by Lindenwood sophomore midfielder Christos Philippou (right). Pacheco played all 90 minutes of the game. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
St. Thomas junior midfielder Jorge Pacheco (left) and Lindenwood senior midfielder Henrique Perestrelo (right) fighting for a ball that is midair. Pacheco recorded an assist, his second of the year. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest) 
First-year midfielder John Bence looking for an off-ball movement at South Field, Sunday Sept. 22, 2024. Bence was in the starting lineup and played all 90 minutes of the game. (Evan Neubauer/The Crest)
Junior midfielder Charlie Hoelscher’s first collegiate goal was not enough to lift the Tommies, as they fell 2-1 against Lindenwood University Sunday, at South Field.
Two corner-kick goals proved to be the difference in the match for the Lions. In a cross by Lindenwood senior forward Ethan Blake and a slight deflection by senior forward John Gates, senior defender Jermaine Mentoor cemented the lead and game with a header for the Lions at the 52nd minute of regulation. It was Mentoor’s first and only collegiate goal so far.
“It was a competitive game…We knew what kind of game they were going to bring to us, and they did it really well early on,” head coach Jon Lowery said, “Incredibly disappointing for us to concede on two corner kicks.”
Lindenwood, representative of the Ohio Valley Conference, opened the scoring in the 22nd minute of play when Gates sent the ball to the back of the net off a corner kick by Blake.
Gates racked up his second goal of the season and finished the match with an assist and four shots on goal.
As the first half dwindled, St. Thomas senior forward Faris Colic and junior midfielder Jorge Pacheco combined to set up Hoelscher, whose right foot strike curved into the top bin of the goal. Hoelscher came off the bench and accumulated 41 minutes on the pitch, a season high.
After the equalizer, Colic had two clear chances to give St. Thomas the lead but was unsuccessful. Both of his shots came from just outside the penalty area but were met without danger by sophomore, Brazilian goalkeeper Enzo Gil.
After a second Lindenwood goal that doubled their lead to 2-1, the Tommies were close to making it even again. Junior midfielder Gunnar Busch was left with a bouncing ball just inside the box that, after a volley, smacked the left post in the 55th minute.
Busch played all 90 minutes of the game and led the Tommies with 3 shots.
The Tommies could only muster one more shot in the second half and were met with their first home defeat of the season and second overall.
A top contributor in defense was St. Thomas sophomore goalie Moritz Krenc. Krenc flashed the gloves by saving 6 shots in the match, which is his second highest total this season. Krenc also came out victorious in a one-on-one situation late in the game, preventing further damage.
“Mo has kept us in games when we need it, he’s been tremendous. The opposite side of the coin is that we’re giving up too many chances so we got a lot of work to do,” Lowery said.
Tommies graduate defender Vitus Voitl got tagged with a yellow card late in the game. Voitl earned his third yellow card of the season and accompanied teammate Faris Colic at the top among the team.
Next for the Tommies men’s soccer is the first conference game against Kansas City, who they will host next Saturday in St. Paul.
“We have another full week to prepare and sometimes in those full weeks you can really get a lot done. Those weeks get a little heavy by the end of them, so I think we have to design this week a little better to be fresh,” Lowery said, “To find our rhythm again it’s just going to be just getting back to the training field…We’ll find our game again.”
The Tommies entered Sunday with a record of 3-1-2.
After starting the season with a 1-0 victory against Northern Illinois at home, the Purple fell hard against Gonzaga in a 6-1 loss in Spokane, Washington.
St. Thomas then followed the defeat with four consecutive games without a loss. First by drawing against DePaul and Milwaukee 1-1 and then achieving victories against St. Cloud State and Stonehill by scores of 3-2 and 2-1, respectively.
The top three playmakers for the Tommies are forward Faris Colic, who has scored four times and dished out 2 assists and graduate students Alejandro Giner and Jorge Perez. The latter two have both scored once and given 2 assists.
Juan Del Valle can be reached at delv9625@stthomas.edu.