NORTHFIELD, Minn. – In its first game as a nationally-ranked team since 2016, the No. 22-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team pulled away with four second-half goals to down UW-Superior by a 6-1 margin on Tuesday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.

First year Shea Bechtel paced St. Olaf (9-1-1) with two goals and one assist, while sophomore Hakeem Morgan added a goal and an assist in the win. Trailing 2-0 at the half, UW-Superior (5-6-0) got on the board with a penalty kick in the first minute of the second half, but the Oles scored the game's final four games to post their seventh-straight victory.

The seven-game winning streak is St. Olaf's longest since the 1999 team won 15-straight games from Sept. 5 - Oct. 23 and the team's eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) is the longest since the 1999 team started the season 15-0-1. This year's 9-1-1 start is the Oles' best start to a season since the 2009 team also opened 9-1-1 through 11 games.

St. Olaf also got goals from sophomore Liam Vance, junior Cole Beaton, and sophomore Martin Machon in the win. The game was the program's first as a ranked team since its 2016 season opener, as the Oles returned to the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 in the poll announced earlier on Tuesday.

Entering the game, both teams ranked in the top 15 nationally in scoring offense, with UW-Superior ranking tied for fourth (3.80 goals/game) and St. Olaf ranking 14th (3.40 goals/game). The six-goal performance was St. Olaf's third this season and marked the fifth time the Oles have scored at least four times in a game.

Vance opened the scoring for St. Olaf in the 25th minute with his second goal of the season, sending a header back across goal and into the top-left corner from the right side off a cross from Bechtel. Thirteen minutes later, Bechtel got his first of the game, reacting quickest in the box to a rebound off his own shot to double the Oles' lead.

Just 56 seconds into the second half, the Yellowjackets made it a one-goal game when Protus Babaya converted from the penalty spot. Seven minutes later, sophomore Austin Williams preserved St. Olaf's lead with a leaping save on a header by Nicolai Stokker.

With the Oles clinging to a one-goal lead, Morgan scored the first of St. Olaf's four second-half goals, playing a one-two with classmate Clemente Arcuch Puig at the top of the box before firing a left-footed shot into the right side of the net from near the penalty spot. The goal was Morgan's seventh of the season, tying him with classmate Casey McCloskey for the team lead.

Bechtel grabbed his second goal of the game in the 67th minute, driving across the box from left to right before rolling the ball back across goal and inside the lower-left corner. Beaton tallied his second-career goal in the 81st minute off a corner kick by Morgan and Machon scored with the second-to-last kick of the game just before the final whistle off an assist by junior Max Eisenfeld to close out the scoring.

Williams had just three saves to make in the game to collect his seventh-straight win, but made a quick-reaction save to deny Blake Perry in the 15th minute with the game scoreless, in addition to his lead-preserving save on Stokker early in the second half.

St. Olaf outshot UW-Superior by a 26-5 margin, including 13-4 advantage in shots on goal, in the game. Alex Paredes made seven saves in the loss for the Yellowjackets.

The Oles hit the road on Saturday, Oct. 9 for a 4 p.m. contest at Saint John's.