Men’s Soccer deadlocked in scoreless tie to open season

ST. PAUL, Minn. – St. Thomas Men's Soccer (0-0-1) opened its 2025 campaign with a scoreless tie against the Presbyterian Blue Hose (0-0-1) at South Field on Thursday, August 21. The Tommies hit a pair of posts, had two shots blocked by defenders at the goal line, and had a goal called offside on a razor's edge.

Key Moments
First Half
-Newcomer, Yanis Lakhlifi had a fantastic chance in the fourth minute with a shot on the goal line that was blocked by a Blue Hose defender.
-Baraka Kania received a yellow card in the 12^th minute in a tactical effort to prevent a Presbyterian counterattack.
-Mathis Guffroy placed a shot on goal in the 44^th minute saved by the PC goalkeeper.
-He came back in the 45^th minute with a goal, called back after he was ruled offside of a free kick.
Second Half
-The Tommies' Joao Saraiva left the contest with an injury in the 47^th minute.
-Miles Akhigbe received a yellow card in the 54^th minute.
-St. Thomas had a pair of great chances in the 66^th minute, with a blocked shot off the foot of Guffroy and a shot off the far post from Lakhlifi.
-Simon Klevberg received a yellow card in the 71^st minute.
-Merrick Schaefer received a yellow card in the 73^rd minute.
-Chance Therrien hit the post in the 74^th minute on a great scoring chance.

Quick Hits
-Junior goalkeeper and Summit League Defensive Player to Watch, Moritz Krenc, made three saves in the first half and four overall enroute to his first clean sheet of the season.
-Simon Klevberg, Merrick Schaefer, Mathis Guffroy, Ronan Selbo, and Gabriel Verona each played all 90 minutes of the shutout.
-Schaefer, Guffroy, Yanis Lakhlifi, and Liam Ireland each placed a shot on goal.
-Both sides placed four shots on goal, the Tommies outshot the Blue Hose 12-6.
-15 of the game's 26 fouls went against the Purple.

Tommie Tidbits
-The shutout was Krenc's second of his career, the ninth in the Tommie's DI program history, and the third scoreless tie (first since October 2022 against Denver)
-The Tommies are now 1-3-1 in season openers and 2-2-1 in home openers.

Quoting Coach Lowery
"A little unsettling because you want more but I really liked the test that Presbyterian challenged us with and our response. I thought their first 20 minutes were bright and asked us a lot of questions. It help drill down a lot of things that we had been working on during the preseason, I was pleased with that. We really grew into the game as it went on, our subs made a difference, hit a couple posts, scored a goal with a close offsides call, it all could have gone either way. I do not think we played our best, but it was far from our worst. With what we are putting together, we will take it and learn from it and be ready to go on Sunday."

Up Next
The Tommies head on to the road for the first time in 2025 with a game at non-conference opponent, Chicago State on Sunday, August 24 at 1:00 p.m.

Follow Along
For any and all information pertaining to the University of St. Thomas Men's Soccer team, follow along on Instagram and Twitter at @TommieMSoccer. Follow the fun @tommiesports on TikTok.

Men’s Soccer deadlocked in scoreless tie to open season

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Team Stats

Yanis Lakhlifi

Gunnar Busch

Mathis Guffroy

Liam Ireland

Players Mentioned

Miles Akhigbe

Mathis Guffroy

Liam Ireland

Baraka Kania

Simon Klevberg

Moritz Krenc

Yanis Lakhlifi

Joao Saraiva

Merrick Schaefer

Ronan Selbo

Chance Therrien

Gabriel Verona

University of St. Thomas Athletics