Miami Gardens, FL - St. Thomas beat no. 25 ranked Savannah College of Art and Design 3-2 in a thrilling back-and-forth match that featured alternating goals, until St. Thomas finally took their first lead with 15 minutes to play.
Thiago Rocha's goal in the 75th minute gave the Bobcats the win, as they begin their season 2-0 after a previous win over Warner Southern. This was the first road match of the season for the Bobcats, and also their first against a ranked opponent, but they showed they were more than up to the task. This was also the second straight Sun Conference win for St. Thomas, getting them off to a stellar start in league play, just as Coach Felix Mats had hopped for in the pre-season. With many underclassmen and new faces in the line-up this year, the early chemistry was an issue, but all questions seem to have been answered.
SCAD scored the first goal of the match, but Thiago Rocha answered in the 14th minute with a goal assisted by Luis Campo and Jaisen Labrada. Labrada also assisted on the second goal for St. Thomas - a strike by Juan Martinez that again tied the score in the 54th minute. With the game tied at 2, Rocha collected a loose ball at the top of the box and kicked it past the outstretched arms of SCAD goalkeeper Ross Faulds into the left corner of the goal at the 75:06 mark. This broken play ended up being the all the Bobcats would need, as their defense was able to stiffen, and held the Bees without a goal for the final 41 minutes of the contest.
The Bees outshot the Bobcats 16-10, but it was timely striking, and a great corner kick from Labrada on the second goal that allowed St. Thomas to come away with the victory. Another key point in this match was the level of physical play, and the emotions of the players. In the match against Warner Southern, the Bobcats were handed multiple yellow cards and even one ejection, but in this match, they were only assessed 9 total fouls and one yellow card. Coach Mats had stressed this point after the team's first win, and said that the mental errors had to be eliminated for the team to reach their potential this season. So far, so good.
