Tommies soccer teams kick off season with strong home opener

Tommies’ offence dribbling the ball into the Hurricanes’ zone. (Jennifer Williams/AQ)

Both St. Thomas University soccer teams had their home opening games on Saturday, Sept. 13. The women’s Tommies played first, getting shutout by the Holland College Hurricanes 3-0. 

The men’s team also played Holland right after, shutting them out 5-0.

The women’s team played a good first half. They were passing well and both teams had chances going back and forth. 

The score was 0-0 when the players walked off the field at halftime.

Fourth-year centre back Olivia Fillmore was satisfied with how the first half went.

“I think that we had good support from the back line. We didn't allow any defensive corners to happen. We were good at just getting it out,” she said.

After halftime, things started to fall apart. During the last 15 minutes, Holland scored three quick goals to cement the victory. 

Fillmore said that their game became flat during the second half.

“We went in thinking it was going to be the same and maybe they took advantage of that and came out stronger,” she said.

After the loss, the team communicated their faults. According to Fillmore, the team will come together after the opposing team scores to make sure they are all on the same page.

When asked how they react to losing a game, Fillmore said that they try to forget it and move on. 

“If we dwell on it, then it carries over into the next day and we knew that the next day we had to win it, so we try to forget our mistakes and just go forward,” she said.

Meanwhile, the men’s team dominated their opponent. The majority of the game took place in Holland’s end, with STU making play after play.

Dan Chapman travelled all the way from Vancouver to watch his son play, third-year goalkeeper Brady Chapman. He was impressed with the crowd size and said there were more attendees this year than last year’s home opener.

“It's nice to see the teams supporting each other, the girls supporting the boys and the boys supporting the girls,” he said.

Chapman believes that more people initially came to watch the women’s game because they have more hometown players, but stayed around to catch the men’s game.

They scored consecutively in under two minutes towards the end of the first half. After returning to the field, the team nailed three more goals to finish the game.

Second-year centre midfielder Wesley Beckstead scored the fourth goal from a pass in the box from Adam Loewen, fellow centre midfielder. 

Beckstead said that sticking to their game plan is their key to success.

“We knew going in our wingers were going to be a big asset to us and we have big depth on our team too,” he said.

When asked if he expected the score to be so lopsided, Beckstead said the team didn’t anticipate to win by that much.

“No matter the outcome, whether it's a big win or a small win, as long as we come out on top, it’s good.”