UWS Falls to St. Thomas

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

After playing four straight road games to start the season, the UW-Superior men’s soccer team finally returned home for the first time in 2014 on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, a potent St. Thomas team stood in their way.  And the Tommies took advantage of the opportunity, getting an early second half goal from Kevin Van Lieshout before holding on for a 1-0 win over UW-Superior at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Yellowjackets (3-2) while St. Thomas (4-1) upped their current unbeaten string to three straight.

Neither team generated much offense in the first half as the Tommies held a 6-5 edge in shots for the first 45 minutes.

With both teams picking up the pace early in the second half, St. Thomas took the lead when Mark Heydt’s corner kick was headed home by Van Lieshout, giving the Tommies a 1-0 cushion at the 60:22 mark.

The Yellowjackets continued to press and created good scoring chances for both Chase Carey (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) and Gio Rodriguez (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Los Osos) as the second half moved on.

But the Yellowjackets couldn’t solve the St. Thomas defense as Wolf stopped all five UW-Superior shots to pick up the shutout in goal.

For the game, St. Thomas held a 13-10 edge in shots while the Yellowjackets led in 5-4 in shots on goal.

Carey, Rodriguez and Brian Grand (North Branch, Minn./North Branch) led the way for the Yellowjackets with two shots each while Matt Elder (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) took the loss in goal for UW-Superior with three saves.

Miles Stockman-Willis paced St. Thomas on offense with a game-high four shots.

The Yellowjackets hit the road to take on Finlandia on Tuesday.