NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's soccer team will travel across town for the second time in a week to face Carleton College in the quarterfinals of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs on Tuesday afternoon.
St. Olaf (9-9-0, 5-5-0 MIAC) will make it first appearance in the MIAC Playoffs since 2015 when the sixth-seeded Oles visit third-seeded Carleton (13-4-1, 6-3-1 MIAC) for a 2 p.m. kickoff at Bell Field. The two teams met last Tuesday, with the Knights rallying from a goal down in the second half to claim a 2-1 overtime victory.
In accordance with conference policy, tickets for Tuesday's game are $10 for adults and $2 for students. Children five and younger are free. MIAC passes will be honored.
Tuesday's other quarterfinal will feature No. 5 seed Macalester at No. 4 seed Saint John's. With a win, St. Olaf would travel to top-seeded Gustavus on Wednesday for a 2 p.m. kickoff in the semifinals, as the Gusties will host the lowest remaining seed and the highest remaining seed will visit second-seeded St. Thomas for an 11:30 a.m. start on Tuesday.
St. Olaf is making its eighth appearance in the MIAC Playoffs since the tournament began in 2003 and previously won the tournament in both 2011 and 2015. The Oles are 6-5 all-time in the MIAC Playoffs and won three games as the No. 4 seed to win the 2015 edition of the tournament in their last appearance in the postseason.
In his first season at St. Olaf, head coach
Travis Wall has led the Oles to its highest win total and highest MIAC win total since the 2015 team that advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. St. Olaf was picked eighth in the MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll but defeated three teams picked ahead of the Oles to return to the six-team playoffs.
Junior
Farid Sani leads St. Olaf in goals (6) and points (13) this season, followed closely in both categories by classmate
Will Douglas, who has five goals and two assists for 12 points. Sophomore midfielder
Lucas Gaulmin also has 12 points on two goals and a team-high eight assists. Twelve Oles have scored at least one goal this season, while 16 have recorded at least one point.
In his first season at St. Olaf, junior goalkeeper
Hamza Osman has started all 18 games for the Oles, going 9-9-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average and 64 saves. His play has helped St. Olaf double its shutout total from last season with six this fall.
Carleton, the preseason favorite to win the MIAC, finished third in the conference standings with a 6-3-1 record and is in the MIAC Playoffs for the 13th-straight season. As the No. 2 seed, the Knights won last season's tournament title in a shootout against No. 5 seed Augsburg for their third MIAC Playoffs title.
In Tuesday's meeting, Douglas gave St. Olaf a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute off an assist from senior
Pato Cortina, but Carleton answered 10 minutes later through Justin Crawmer to eventually send the game into overtime. With 2:53 to go in the first overtime, Charlie Hall netted a 98th-minute game-winner, off Marco da Cunha's second assist of the game, to give the Knights the win.
St. Olaf holds a 31-29-6 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, although Carleton is unbeaten (6-0-1) in the last seven head-to-head meetings. The crosstown rivals are meeting for the third time in the MIAC Playoffs, with the Oles owning wins in 2007 (1-0 in semifinals) and 2011 (3-2 in championship) and the Knights picking up a 1-0 win in the semifinals in 2013.
