University of St. Thomas Athletics
Southern Indiana
Game Notes -- Road games await, Men's Soccer winds down season
11/1/2022 3:35:00 PM | Men's Soccer
St. Paul, Minn. - Tommie Men's Soccer (3-10-2 overall, 2-3-1 Summit) has a Wed. Nov. 2 game at Southern Indiana (1-11-3, 1-4-1) -- the first competition between these two universities in any sport. That game has a 2 p.m. start.
That will be followed by a season-ending Sat. Nov. 5 game at Kansas City (5-4-5, 3-1-3) with a 7 p.m. game time. The Toms edged Kansas City last season, 2-1.
The Tommies are ineligible for the Summit league playoffs as a transitioning school into Division I. They are coming off of 2-0 Senior Day home-field win over Lindenwood, with goals being scored by freshman Jorge Pacheco (his first collegiate goal) and senior Jacek Nickowski. Goalkeeper Tucker Mann and his teammates recorded their third shutout of 2022.
Opponent Watch
First-year Division I team Southern Indiana had a four-game losing streak end with an Oct. 26 tie vs. Western Illinois. The SIU roster includes one grad student, three seniors, eight juniors and 12 sophomores. Its leading scorer, Nick Faddis, has collected a team-best 11 points (three goals). The Eagles have been outscored 36-11, and have been outshot by a 2-to-1 margin.
Kansas City close the regular season vs. the Toms on Saturday and are coming off 1-1 ties vs. Central Arkansas and Omaha. The Roos' roster has 13 international players including their leading scorer, Japan native Kazuki Kimura (five goals). The Roos have also been outscored by their opponents just 21-18 and outshot 183-181.
Tough at Home
St. Thomas has allowed just seven goals in its last nine home games dating back to last season. The Purple became the first St. Thomas Division I team to tie or beat a top-10 ranked opponent as they played powerful Denver to a 0-0 tie over 90 minutes on Oct. 8 at South Field. The last time No. 10-ranked Denver was shutout after getting 12 or more shots on goal was in 2004. This year's outcome avenged a 3-1 Tommie loss to Denver on the road in 2021.
Follow
This week's SIU Live Video on ESPN-Plus can be accessed HERE:
This week's SIU Live Stats can be accessed HERE:
This week's Kansas City Live Video can be accessed HERE:
This week's Kansas City Live Stats can be accessed HERE:
Transition Teams
St. Thomas' 2022 schedule includes three of the five universities which in 2022-23 are starting their transition from NCAA Division II into D-I:
- Stonehill (Mass) at home Sept. 10;
- Lindenwood (Mo.) at home Oct. 29;
- Southern Indiana away Nov. 2.
The 200 Club
Jon Lowery recently coached his 200th game with St. Thomas soccer. He has won two-thirds of his contests (121-58-22) over his D-III and D-I eras. Lowery played college soccer in Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State Buckeyes in the late 1990s. He was twice a first-team All-Big Ten honoree as a goalkeeper.
Over the last decade, Lowery guided St. Thomas' improvement from nine wins in 2014 to 12 wins in 2015, a school-record 20 wins in 2016, a school-record 22 victories in 2017, and added 16 wins in 2018 and 12 in 2019, the last complete D-III season prior to Covid.
Schedule Talk
The 2022 schedule includes 11 rematch games from last season: six involving Summit League opponents as well as California Baptist, Incarnate Word, Gonzaga, UW-Green Bay and Western Michigan. First-time Tommie Men's Soccer opponents in 2022 are UC Riverside, Dayton, Stonehill, Lindenwood, Southern Indiana and Chicago State.
Did You Know?
- St. Thomas is 6-10-2 in its last 18 games since the end of last season, including a 4-3-2 home record. The Toms played three times in eight days Oct. 15-22 and lost 1-0 at Omaha, 5-0 at Oral Roberts, and 1-0 vs. Western Illinois. All five ORU goals came in the second half.
- In their first 14 D-I games last season, the Purple scored just seven goals. In their last 18 games since then, they have scored 16 goals.
- This season St. Thomas has allowed 28 goals in eight road or neutral games but only given up six goals in seven home games.
Click HERE to access complete weekly Men's Soccer notes
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