ST. PAUL, Minn. – John Bence scored the lone goal in the 67th minute to lift St. Thomas to a 1-0 victory over the Northern Illinois University men's soccer team on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 22) in the season opener for both teams. 

"Really disappointed in the performance," said NIU head coach Ryan Swan. "We just never showed up to the game, I thought we were really flat, and it wasn't until St. Thomas scored that we got ourselves out of second gear. Credit to St. Thomas, they came out and were fired up from the very start, diving into challenges, winning first and second balls, and we did not look like we were prepared for the start of the season."

Just after the half-hour mark, the Huskies forced a pair of saves out of St. Thomas goalkeeper Moritz Krenc as Kevin Kelly (Dublin, Ireland/St. Joseph Rush) had a chance in the 33rd minute and Taylor Davis (Wichita Falls, Texas/Wichita Falls) had an effort stopped in the 38th minute. 

The Tommies earned a penalty four minutes before the interval but NIU goalkeeper Caleb Pearson (Fort Worth, Texas/LD Bell), making his collegiate debut, made the stop down to his right on Jorge Perez Prada to keep the match scoreless heading into halftime. Pearson finished the match with five saves. 

"Caleb looked solid throughout preseason, and he was pretty good today," said Swan. "It was a great stop on the penalty, and you hope that moment is going to spur the guys on, that it was the warning shot that we needed, but we just didn't really react, even after that. I was delighted for Caleb (on the penalty save), but it doesn't matter as much when you go on to lose the game." 

Midway through the second half, St. Thomas broke the deadlock through Bence as his shot direct from a free kick 25 yards straight in front of goal took a deflection and found its way into the back of the net in the 67th minute. 

The Huskies were on the front-foot for the final 20-plus minutes of the contest as chances fell to Sam Divis (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), Zachariah Thomas (Burnaby, British Columbia/Moscrop Secondary) and Kelly, but NIU was unable to beat Krenc in goal for St. Thomas as the Tommies held on for the 1-0 home victory. 

NIU now looks to turn the page toward its home opener on Sunday against Chicago State. 

"Chicago State will come in ready for the game and how we respond is going to be huge," said Swan. "It felt like we really didn't do the things that we spent all preseason talking about and working on. I thought we shied away from (St. Thomas) too much today, so you hope that Sunday is a reset, and it is our job as a staff to get the guys back focused and on track to try to have a positive performance on Sunday."

Sunday's home opener against Chicago State is scheduled to kickoff at 6 p.m. and Huskie fans are encouraged to wear red. Admission to NIU Soccer games is free of charge.