University of St. Thomas Men's Soccer concluded their NCAA tournament run against #2 Chicago this Saturday afternoon. Despite an early lead on the scoreboard, Chicago went on a large second half run to win 4-1. 

Picking up where he left off, Taty Aleman only added to his goal total. Just four minutes into the match, Aleman notched his 20th of the season to put the Celts up 1-0. From there, St. Thomas did not want to give up their lead, so the defense tightened as a caution was charged against Angel Ramirez, and Rodrigo Lazo had a clutch save. In the 26th minute, Chicago was awarded a penalty kick, however, they could not convert as Lazo had a huge stop to prevent the score from changing. This held until halftime when St. Thomas was ahead 1-0. 

In the second half, Chicago came out storming as just one minute into the period, they scored their first of the match. The 1-1 draw was kept until minutes 65 and 67, as Chicago only added to their point total, making the score 3-1 with 23 minutes to go. Chicago only added one more as their defense only gave up one more St. Thomas shot in the rest of the match to secure a 4-1 victory.

Coach Clerihew and his squad finish the season 16-2-3, the best since joining the NCAA in 2019. Now as a full member of Division III, men's soccer was the first team from St. Thomas to qualify for an NCAA National Tournament. Making all the way to the sweet 16 out of 405 total DIII programs, the Celts made noise with victories against powerhouses such as Trinity, and winning their first two tournament matches with Chapman and Pacific Lutheran.