ST. PETER, Minn. – First year Robi Buzakovic scored with 1:01 remaining to give the second-seeded St. Olaf College men's soccer team a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over top-seeded and fifth-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College in the championship game of the 2022 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Men's Soccer Playoffs on Saturday afternoon at Gustie Soccer Field.

With time winding down, Buzakovic unleashed a shot from roughly 30 yards out that flew into the top-right corner of the net for his second goal of the game to give St. Olaf (13-5-1) its third MIAC Playoffs title and its first since 2015 (2011, 2015, 2022). The win over Gustavus (14-1-4) also earned the Oles the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament for what will be the program's ninth appearance in the national tournament (1984, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2022) and its second in a row.

St. Olaf will find out the location and opponent during the NCAA selection show on NCAA.com at 12:30 p.m. CT on Monday, Nov. 7, while Gustavus will await word on a potential at-large bid after suffering its first loss of the season. The win was the Oles' first against a top-five opponent since a 2-1 victory at third-ranked Macalester College on Oct. 14, 1998.

"I'm so excited for my guys and proud of them for digging out such a big result," said head coach Travis Wall. "Gustavus is a great team and there's a reason why they were undefeated coming into this game through 18 games. This season has been a rollercoaster for us - we played one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country in addition to our challenging MIAC season and took some losses in the process. In almost all our losses, we've been proud of how we've played, but the result wasn't always one we were happy with. It was nice to find ourselves on the right end of this one."

The Gusties jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 11th minute when Jack Knight picked out the lower-right corner of the net after receiving a through ball from Owen Johnson. The hosts took the 1-0 lead into the halftime break after a first half that saw both teams fire seven shots.

Less than three minutes into the second half, St. Olaf earned a penalty kick after junior Jordan Oberholtzer was taken down in the box and Buzakovic converted from the spot to tie the game. Ten minutes after the penalty kick, Gustavus was reduced to 10 men when Ethan Glissendorf received a straight red card to give the Oles a man advantage for the final 33 minutes of the game.

The Gusties held St. Olaf at bay until the waning moments when junior Clemente Arcuch Puig passed the ball to Buzakovic well outside the box and Buzakovic unleashed a drive into the top-right corner to win the game. The two-goal game was the first of Buzakovic's career and brought his season total to six. The first year has had at least one point in four-straight games.

"This was our first come-from-behind win this year and we chose a great day for it," Wall added. "Robi is a special player and he showed a lot of people what he's capable of today. I'm proud of this group for getting to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, which is not an easy feat, especially when you create a bigger target for yourself with the success we had last season. I'm very proud to be the head coach of the St. Olaf men's soccer program."

Sophomore Peter Forseth made a career-high nine saves in the win for St. Olaf to improve to 6-1-1 on the season, while Wesley Sanders had 10 stops in the loss for Gustavus. The Oles held edges of 18-13 in shots and 12-10 in shots on goal in the game while earning eight of the game's 10 corner kicks. The Gusties ended the game with nine men after receiving a second yellow card in the final minute.