University of St Thomas

University of St Thomas Athletics
2115 Summit Avenue St Paul, MN 55105

Division 3 Minnesota Northwest

Private Medium Developing team

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Coaches

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Sheila McGill

Sheila McGill has built a winning program on and of the field for St. Thomas Women's Soccer. The 2023 season will be the 17th year for McGill as head coach.

McGill will coach her 300th game at St. Thomas early this season, her 25th in college soccer as a player, assistant or head coach. She has the longest tenure at her school of the nine Summit League women's soccer head coaches.

McGill led St. Thomas' historic inaugural season into Division I play in the fall of 2021. Despite losing eight one-goal decisions, her young Tommie team still managed four wins and a tie and came away with many positives with its first taste of D-I competition, finishing 4-12-1. Her 2022 team improved to six wins and continued the progress that began in season one.

McGill and her staff were named D-III Region Coaches of the Year in three of the last five seasons of the Division III era. She guided Tommie teams to four consecutive NCAA D-III playoff trips from 2016-2019, including an unbeaten postseason record in those last two years (6-0-4). The Toms also won four conference championships in a five-season span to close the decade.

McGill's 2018 and 2019 teams were nationally ranked most of the seasons. Both the 2018 and 2019 Tommies won or shared both the conference regular-season and playoff titles. Both lost a shootout tiebreaker in the NCAA playoffs away from home. The Tommies' 19-2-1 record in 2018 included school records for wins (19) and longest win streak (14). The 2019 Toms tied for fifth nationally with a 17-2-5 record, including a 12-0-5 record in their last 17 contests. The 2020-21 season was reduced by Covid protocols, but St. Thomas went 5-0 in spring games and outscored foes 16-0. In 2018, Mallory DeBoom won her second All-America honor and her second MIAC Offensive Player of the Year award. DeBoom closed her four-year run with 111 points (44 goals) to move into No. 2 on the program's career scoring list. St. Thomas finished 47-0-4 in games on her career when she scored a point, and she recorded 19 game-winning goals. The senior also became the Tommies' first four-time first-team All-MIAC honoree. Teammate McKenna Peplinski received CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

The 2016 Tommies posted a remarkable 10-0-1 record in conference play to claim the MIAC regular-season title for the second-straght year. St. Thomas fell in the MIAC championship game but received an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament for the teams' first trip since 2009. The Tommies lost to Loras in the first round to end the season with a 17-3-1 record and Coach McGill and her staff were honored as Region Coaching Staff of the Year. DeBoom, the MIAC Offensive Player of the Year, and senior goalkeeper Tarynn Theilig, the 2X MIAC Defensive Player of the Year, were both third-team All-America selections. St. Thomas played exceptional defense the entire season as they only allowed six goals in 21 games played.

In 2015, St. Thomas was slotted out of the top three in the MIAC preseason poll and posted a 8-2-1 conference record to win the regular-season championship. In the MIAC playoffs, the Tommies reached the championship game but fell 1-0 to Gustavus to finish second. That St. Thomas team had 21 freshmen and sophomores on a 27-player roster.

The 2014 Tommie team returned to the MIAC playoffs. The Toms won their quarterfinal game but fell in the semifinals to finish the season 8-8-4.

St. Thomas was MIAC runner-up and returned to the NCAA playoffs in 2009 after a 13-6-1 finish.

St. Thomas finished 10-7-1 despite injuries and a young roster in McGill's debut season, then broke through to win the MIAC championship in 2008. Picked sixth in the MIAC preseason poll, the 2008 Tommies finished 14-1-5 overall and took first in the conference with a 9-0-2 record. St. Thomas made it to the NCAA Tournament -- the program's fifth NCAA playoff berth in 12 seasons but first since 2002 -- before losing in penalty kicks to Loras. Junior Erin Sprangers was chosen conference MVP and McGill was named conference Coach of the Year. Their 14-1-5 record and .825 win percentage ranked among the best in college soccer, and UST reached 13th in the Division III national rankings.

McGill has been on the Minnesota soccer scene as a prep and college player and youth, prep and college coach for 30 years. A former MIAC soccer player at St. Mary's from 1993-97, McGill was an assistant coach at St. Catherine from 2003-06. Her local coaching resume also includes four seasons as an assistant coach at Cretin-Derham Hall High School (1999-2002); five seasons as a head coach in White Bear Lake's youth soccer program, and eight seasons coaching for USYSA Region II and the state of Minnesota in the Olympic Development Program.

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Victoria Vargas

Victoria Vargas is entering her third season as the assistant coach of the St. Thomas women's soccer team in 2023.

The 2022 Tommie women’s soccer team started hot, with a 6-2-3 record prior to losing their final six games, finishing 6-8-3. St. Thomas won its first road Summit League game in program history against North Dakota State.

In St. Thomas' historic inaugural season of Division I in fall of 2021, despite losing eight one-goal decisions, the young Tommie team still managed four wins and a tie, finishing 4-12-1.

The San Diego, Calif. native played for St. Thomas from 2012-15, serving as a team captain during her senior season. As a member of the Tommie coaching staff, she helped close the Division III chapter with a 22-game unbeaten streak (17-0-5). The 2019 team claimed MIAC regular-season and playoff championships and tied for fifth place nationally.

Vargas also has coached at the high school level, as well as assisting in the US Soccer Development Academy ages GU15, GU17 and GU19 for Shattuck St. Mary's School. Her latest experience was working with U19 Girls in the Premier 2 Division of National League's Midwest Conference. She holds a USSF National 'C' License.