Story by Shane Lydon, Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of aqsaints.com

There was mixed emotions for the Aquinas soccer teams on Homecoming as the women’s team snatched a valuable win at the death against Indiana Institute of Technology while the men went down 2-0 to the same opponent.

Action at the AQ field kicked off at noon with the Aquinas men hoping to start their WHAC campaign off with a win. It has been a slow start to the season for the men’s team, who were still awaiting their first win heading into Saturday’s game.

Unfortunately for the lads, the search for the win must wait until Wednesday night’s encounter with city rivals, Cornerstone. Two goals just before half time took the wind out of AQ’s sails and they were unable to get a foothold back in the game.

The crowd waited in anticipation for a repeat of last year’s Homecoming heroics when AQ came from three goals down to beat UNOH, 4-3. However, it wasn’t to be this time around. AQ goalkeeper, Theoren Collison, made some important saves but Aquinas was unable to create any real chances of their own against a resolute Indiana defense.

With three games on the road coming up against Cornerstone, UNOH and Lawrence Tech, it is vital that the Saints get this result out of their head as quickly as possible. There is a long season ahead yet.

With the men losing, the pressure fell on the women’s team as they kicked off at 3 p.m. for their showdown with the same college. The women’s team came into the game in great form, winning three on the bounce without conceding a single goal.

It proved to be another dominant display by AQ with the 1-0 final scoreline not representative of the chances they created. A mixture of great defending from Indiana and wasteful finishing from Aquinas ensured that the game went to overtime. With the game destined for a tie, Jenna Smith got on the end of an excellent pass from Shelby Baxter before cutting inside and finishing in style with just three minutes of overtime remaining.

It was a great win for Aquinas but the most impressive part of the performance was their defensive stability. It’s four clean sheets on the trot for goalkeeper Kylie Robb and her defense.

The women’s team have three of their next four games at home which gives them a chance to continue to gather momentum and put themselves in a great position of making the WHAC tournament at the end of the season. If they can continue to stay strong at the back, there is no reason why they can’t keep the wins coming.