ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Megan Thompson has made impressive plays in all 33 of her collegiate appearances with the College of Saint Benedict soccer team, but she really seems to flourish in the team’s season opener.
As a first year in 2017, Thompson scored four goals in a win over Nebraska Wesleyan. She netted the second hat trick of her collegiate career during a MIAC game as a sophomore in 2018, and she came up big when the team needed it during CSB’s opening weekend in 2019.
After scoring five goals and finishing the weekend with 11 total points, Thompson is this week’s CSB and MIAC Athlete of the Week. This is the second conference athlete of the week honor of her career, with the first coming after her four-goal game in 2017.
In the first game of her junior season, Thompson racked up the third hat trick of her career to lift Saint Benedict to a 3-2 overtime win against UW-Whitewater. She put her team up 1-0 at the 13:32 mark, made it 2-1 in the 71
st minute and scored the game-winning goal with just over a minute gone in overtime. She finished the game with 11 shots against the Warhawks, including nine on net.
Thompson was just as good Saturday against No. 17 UW-La Crosse, as she had a hand in all three of CSB’s goals. She assisted on Roxy Veldman’s goal in the 15
th minute of play to make it 1-0, and put her team up 2-0 10 minutes into the second half. That goal would end up being the game winner, but Thompson added a third goal for good measure in the 80
th minutes to make it 3-1 and make her weekend numbers even more impressive. For her big weekend, she also earned BSN Sports Labor Day Challenge MVP honors.
After two games, Thompson leads the MIAC in points (11) and goals (5), and is third with 15 total shots. In 2018, Thompson led the team and finished eighth in the MIAC with 23 points and nine goals.
The schedule doesn’t get much easier for Thompson and her teammates. This weekend, the team heads to Waverly, Iowa, to take on Wartburg – which made the NCAA Tournament in 2018 – and then to Decorah, Iowa, to play Luther, which is another perennially tough Iowa team.
