The 12th ranked University of St. Thomas men’s soccer program was Minnesota’s shining star in this first weekend of NCAA Tournament play. St. Thomas won both its first and second round games and for the first time in the program’s history, advanced to the Round of 16 next weekend in Chicago.

Saturday – St. Scholastica

The Tommies (18-1-3) rolled through the weekend defeating St. Scholastica on Saturday by a score of 2-1. The Saints (12-8-1) gave St. Thomas all they could handle on Saturday by going 1-0 in the first half after being awarded a penalty kick. Kyle Farra beat Tommies goalkeeper Aidan Hogan easily.

St. Thomas turned up the heat in the second half outshooting St. Scholastica 18-2 and forcing Saints goalkeeper Sandy Davidson-Hunt into 6 saves. It was an unlikely hero, Tony Kuplic, who equalized for St. Thomas with only two minutes left to play. It was Kuplic’s first goal of the season.

The goal sent the game into OT and it was Kuplic once again who was the hero of the day. He completed his brace in the 109th minute, ending the Saints season and advancing the Tommies to Sunday’s match against Luther who had defeated St. Norbert 2-1.

Sunday – Luther

In Sunday’s contest St. Thomas took an early lead when Christian Elliehausen scored in the third minute of play. “It gave us loads of confidence going up early, knowing we could move on to the next round,” said Elliehausen.

The game settled into a back and forth battle that became more physical as Luther’s frustration set in. Luther had eight shots in the first half to the Tommies’ four. That statistic was reversed in the second half with St. Thomas putting eight shots on net and forcing Luther’s goalkeeper Tolith Gidaga to make four saves.

It was again the unlikely hero, Kuplic who sealed the deal for St. Thomas, scoring his third goal of his career and of the weekend. Kuplic nodded the ball at Gidaga who made the save but spilled the rebound. An opportunistic Kuplic pounced on the ball and gave the Tommies a 2-0 insurance goal.

Kuplic, a senior, was playing in just his 10th and 11th career varsity games this weekend. He has converted three goals in seven career shots (five on goal), all this season. He was cut in 2013 tryouts as a freshman and later played junior-varsity basketball before an injury stalled his path in that spot. He tried out again in 2016 for his senior soccer season and made Lowery’s 33-player roster as one of six seniors.

Hogan recorded seven saves and helped the UST defense record its 16th shutout of the season. The Toms also killed six corner-kick tries for the Norse (15-6-2).

Next Up

St. Thomas sill now play Benedictine (Ill.), who defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater 2-1 on Sunday. The Tommies will go into that game with the stingiest defense of any DIII program in the country. They have only allowed 6 goals all season. In front of goalkeeper Hogan, the Toms defense has given up only two goals in the last 16 matches dating back to Sept. 14th. The team also set a school-record 15 shutouts and have outscored opponents 33-8, including 17-2 in the first half.

Head coach Jon Lowery, who took over the program five seasons ago, now has a record of 59-25-13. After the match, Lowery said the win and the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16 was emotional for him. “It was five years ago, I was sitting down with the recruits who are now seniors and telling them if you buy into this program we’re going to get somewhere and we’ll do it together. The conference is incredibly difficult, the region is incredibly difficult. It’s a sense of pride and accomplishment but also a sense of starting something we can move forward with. I’m really proud of the guys and the investment they’ve made in this program.”

Augsburg Women

Augsburg’s Women’s soccer team had to travel for their first round game against Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Auggies (18-5-0 ) defeated MSOE 2-0 on Saturday with goals by Ashley St. Aubin (FY, Burnsville) and Rayni Pemble (JR, Anoka).

The win advanced Augies to Sunday’s second round game against the University of Chicago (17-3-0.) Chicago, ranked 11th in the nation, scored two goals in the first half — in the 27th and 44th minutes — to take the lead over the Auggies. Chicago outshot Augsburg 15-9 and had nine corner kicks to Augsburg’s four.

Augsburg will graduate nine seniors who are the winningest class in the history of the school’s women’s soccer program, compiling a 59-19-5 record (.741 winning percentage).

Minnesota Morris

Minnesota Morris took an 8-8-3 record to Whitewater, Wisconsin this weekend where they faced No. 7 ranked UW Whitewater (21-1-0). The cougars were defeated 3-0 with the game-winning goal for the Warhawks coming in the 24th minute.

DII Women’s MSU Mankato

MSU Mankato ranked 15th in the nation, took the number 2-seed in their NCAA Tournament bracket and were given a bye in the first round on Saturday. They played their first game on Sunday against Saturday’s winner, No. 24 ranked Fort Hays State. The Mavericks  (16-3-3) got on the scoreboard first with a goal by Dana Savino.

Less than two minutes later, the Tigers responded with a goal in the 66th minute by Regan Lawler to knot the score. Just five minutes late it was again the Tigers who scored the go-ahead goal by Slivana Ramero.

In the 78th minute, it was Savino again who scored the equalizer. The game remained tied at 2-2 through regulation and two overtimes before going to shootouts which the Tigers won, 4-2.

Jenna Roering and Santa Clara

Former Minnesota MS Soccer and Gatorade Player of the Year, Jenna Roering’s team defeated Long Breach at home on Friday by a score of 3-1. Santa Clara will now travel to play No. 2 -seeded Stanford in Palo Alto next Friday at 7 p.m.