St. Thomas University’s men’s soccer team entered the NAIA National Championships as the Sun Conference champions but the weather in Ohio doomed the Bobcats in the opening round of the tournament, as the host team, Rio Grande, prevailed to a 5-1 victory.
Playing in cold, blustery conditions with temperatures dipping into the upper 30s, Rio Grande took advantage of its home field advantage opening up a 2-0 lead with back-to-back goals in the 15th and 17th minutes.
In the 28th minute, the Bobcats scored as Rio Grande allowed a lone goal to make the score 2-1.
The Red Storm would score again in the 36th minute, then add on two insurance goals in the second half.
Harry Reilly led the Red Storm with a hat trick of three goals plus one assist.
The loss ended a season in which the Bobcats won the Sun Conference Tournament Championship with a 1-0 victory over Keiser at Bobcat Field, and advanced to the NAIA National Championships for the first time since 2010.
Roni Luokkamaki scored the game-winning goal in the 51st minute scoring on a rebound off an offensive opportunity created by Kris Wilkinson. On the game-deciding sequence, Wilkinson dribbled through a group of Seahawks defenders, then sent the ball into the goal mouth where Danny Martinez fired off a shot on goal.
Keiser's goalkeeper Nico Gomez saved the shot by Martinez, but Luokkamaki was in perfect position for the rebound and promptly found the back of the net for the game-winner. The Bobcat defense held the Seahawks in check, allowing just one shot on goal as goalkeeper Connor Christie recorded the shutout.
Strong performances on the defensive end by Frank Long, Harry Molyneux, Nico Sobanski, Breno Ertty, Vinicius Carvalho and Santeri Bergman made it an easy night for Christie. The shutout was the second in as many games in Sun Conference tournament play for Christie and St. Thomas’ defense.
St. Thomas outshot Kieser nine to four with six of the nine shots coming in the second half. Artur Sharapov and Abraham Bibas each registered two shots with shots also taken by Breno Ertty, Wilkinson, Bergman, Martinez and the game-winner by Luokkamaki. Despite not getting a shot off, starting forward Hector Mena was very active on the offensive attack as well. The Bobcats used four players off the bench with Chris Valdes and Chris Giraldo providing valuable minutes along with Martinez and Bibas.