Women's Soccer unbeaten string hits four

Senior Morgan McConachie had a goal and two assists and Sydney Presley netted two goals in Wednesday's 5-1 Tommie Women's Soccer defeat of Bethel on Wednesday afternoon at South Field. With the win, St. Thomas improves to 4-4-1 overall and 3-1-0 in the MIAC, while Bethel drops to 0-6-3 overall and 0-4-4 in league play.

McConachie wasted little time putting the Tommies on the board early. She scored just 40 seconds into the contest after taking a lead pass from Hayley Engel. McConachie's left-footed shot from the left side of the box scooted past a diving Royal goalkeeper and tucked inside the back post to give UST the early 1-0 lead.

Twelve minutes later, the Tommies extended their lead thanks to Victoria Vargas goal off of a corner kick. Taylor Skorik sent the corner kick into the box, where it made its way through heavy traffic in front of the net to Vargas, who put it away to put her team on top 2-0.

Bethel answered in the 17th minute when Jessica Huseby bent a free kick into the top left corner of the goal. The shot came from the right side of the box and flew just high of goalkeeper Tarynn Theilig's outstretched fingertips.

St. Thomas sealed the win with three goals in the second half, two of which came from junior Sydney Presley. Presley's first goal came in the 60th minute when she received a lead pass from Morgan McConachie up the right side. The pass drew the Bethel keeper out and gave Presley the chance to drive it up into the top left corner.

Presley switched from scorer to helper nearly 30 minutes later when she assisted on a Hayley Engel goal. Engel's second goal of the year gave the Tommies a 4-1 lead.

Presley returned to her scoring role a minute later when she scored her second goal of the game. McConachie played a hand in the goal once again, sending a cross to Presley, who put it home to put the seal on the 5-1 final score.

Presley led all UST with five points (2G, 1A) in the game, while McConachie followed with four points (1G, 2A), and Engel recorded three points (1G, 1A). McConachie now has 10 points in the last two games, stemming from three goals and four assists.

Sophomore keeper Tarynn Theilig was awarded the win after allowing one goal and making five saves. She improves to 4-4-1 on the year, while her counterpart, Micale Jensen, was tagged with the loss in a three-save effort.

St. Thomas will be back in action on Sunday, when it hosts Hamline University at 3:00 p.m., on South Field.

PHOTO: Hayley Engel (2) had a goal and an assist (UST sports information photo by Elly Neisius)

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Team Stats

Sydney Presley

Morgan McConachie

Hayley Engel

Victoria Vargas

University of St. Thomas Athletics