NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The regionally-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team wrapped up its third-straight berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs with a 3-0 Senior Day victory over Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.
An early goal from junior
Victor Gaulmin staked St. Olaf (11-5-0, 7-2-0 MIAC) to a 1-0 halftime lead before sophomore
Shea Bechtel and junior
Hakeem Morgan added second-half goals to complete the scoring. The Oles outshot Concordia-Moorhead (3-11-1, 2-5-1 MIAC) by a 31-3 margin in the game to record their 10th shutout of the season.
Prior to the game, St. Olaf celebrated its eight members of the Class of 2023:
Lucas Gaulmin,
Max Eisenfeld,
Lance Halberg,
Ethan Niles,
Cole Beaton,
Ben Steil,
Noah Mock, and
Santi Bonifasi. The group played its final regular-season game at Rolf Mellby Field and helped the Oles wrap up an 8-0-0 regular season at home.
St. Olaf outshot Concordia by an 18-1 margin in the opening 45 minutes but only had Gaulmin's 10th-minute goal to show for it at halftime. Gaulmin netted his seventh goal of the season inside the opening 10 minutes by heading in a cross from classmate
Casey McCloskey on the left at the back post. McCloskey's assist extended his point streak to nine games.
Early in the second half, the Oles doubled their lead less than four minutes into the second half when Bechtel got past a couple of defenders and unleashed a right-footed shot from near the edge of the box to stretch his point streak to six consecutive games.
Morgan got on the scoresheet in the 82nd minute, firing the ball home in front off a cross from Gaulmin after first year
Robi Buzakovic found Gaulmin on the right wing. The assist was the first of Buzakovic's collegiate career.
Sophomore
Peter Forseth earned his fourth shutout in five starts this season and improved to 4-1-0 with a two-save shutout in goal for St. Olaf. Erick Torres made nine saves for the Cobbers to keep the score down.
St. Olaf closes out the regular season with a trip to Minneapolis to face Augsburg University on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field.
