NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The St. Olaf College men's soccer team scored four times in the opening 20 minutes and rolled to an 8-1 victory over Lake Forest College in the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship on Saturday night at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

St. Olaf (15-4-1) opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game and led 4-0 inside the first 20 minutes as part of a five-goal first half to romp to its largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game. The Oles led 6-0 before Lake Forest (8-9-3) got on the board early in the second half in just the third-ever meeting between the two programs.

With the win, St. Olaf advances to the second round to take on host and No. 10-ranked North Central College on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. Despite being down a man, the Cardinals scored twice in the final two minutes to rally for a 3-2 victory over UW-Superior in the first game of the night.

Sophomore Shea Bechtel and junior Hakeem Morgan led the way offensive for St. Olaf with a goal and two assists apiece, as Bechtel took sole possession of the single-season school assist record by upping his total to 15. First year Caspar Olseth came off the bench to score twice, while juniors Liam Vance and Jordan Oberholtzer each had a goal and an assist. The win marked the fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance in which the Oles have won at least one game.

Less than two minutes into the game, Oberholtzer got St. Olaf off to a quick start by scoring his second goal of the year, tapping the ball into an empty net off an unselfish square pass by Bechtel, who was played in on goal by Morgan. Just under 10 minutes later, Morgan doubled the Oles' lead with a left-footed finish after being slotted in by junior Casey McCloskey.

Morgan set up St. Olaf's third goal five minutes later, swinging in a free kick that  junior Victor Gaulmin headed in in the 16th minute for Gaulmin's team-leading 11th goal of the season. Bechtel capped the four-goal flurry by slotting the ball into the lower-left corner of the goal off an assist from Oberholtzer in the 20th minute to make it 4-0.

Olseth tallied St. Olaf's fifth goal of the opening half by nodding in a rebound off a Bechtel shot in the 31st minute for the first of his two goals on the night. Junior Jonah Dean picked up his first assist of the season on Vance's goal in the 52nd minute that extended St. Olaf's lead to 6-0 before the Foresters got on the board on an indirect free kick from inside the box a little over three minutes later.

The Oles added two more goals just over two minutes apart before the game was 70 minutes old, benefitting from an own goal off a centering pass by first year Dimitri Nair in the 67th minute before Olseth headed in a Vance free kick in the 70th minute to close out the scoring.

St. Olaf held a 17-8 advantage in shots in the game and got 15 of its 17 shots on target, compared to six shots on goal for Lake Forest. Sophomore Peter Forseth earned the victory by making two saves in the opening half before junior Austin Williams made three saves in the final 45 minutes. Szymon Mocarski recorded seven saves for the Foresters, who were making their fourth appearance in the national tournament in the last 10 years.