NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 15-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team used five second-half goals to cruise to a 7-0 victory over visiting Northland College in its season opener on Thursday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.

St. Olaf (1-0-0) got goals from six different student-athletes in the win, led by two goals from junior Clemente Arcuch Puig, while junior Hakeem Morgan added a goal and an assist. The Oles led Northland (1-0) by a single goal until the final seconds of the opening half before scoring in the final minute of the first half and the first minute of the second half to build a three-goal cushion.

First years Chaneek Park and Caspar Olseth both netted goals in their collegiate debuts for St. Olaf, which improved to 20-3-1 since the start of the 2021 season. Junior Liam Vance and senior Ethan Niles also tallied goals in the victory, as the Oles outshot the Lumberjacks by a 37-3 margin in the game.

Arcuch Puig opened the scoring inside the first five minutes for St. Olaf, curling a shot from outside the box on the left inside the far post for the first of his two goals in the game. The score remained 1-0 until the final seconds of the opening half when Park fired the ball home shortly after a corner kick to send the Oles into the break with a two-goal advantage.

Inside the opening minute of the second half, Arcuch Puig grabbed his second goal of the game, tapping the ball in in front after Morgan's shot from the top of the box produced a rebound. A little over 15 minutes later, Morgan bent in a left-footed free kick from the top of the box to make it a 4-0 game.

St. Olaf tacked on three goals over the final 20-plus minutes of the game to post its highest-scoring output in a game since a 10-1 win at Bethany Lutheran College on Oct. 2, 2012. Olseth got himself in behind the Lumberjacks' defense and slotted the ball home in the 69th minute before Vance glanced the ball home in front following a corner kick just over two minutes later.

Niles capped the scoring in the final minute of the game by firing a right-footed shot inside the lower-right corner from inside the box off a cross from sophomore Joe Deuitch. Senior Cole Beaton collected a pair of assists by setting up Olseth and Vance's goals.

Junior Austin Williams earned the 20th victory of his career by making one save in the opening 45 minutes before being replaced by sophomore Peter Forseth at the start of the second half. Forseth had just one save to make the rest of the way. Jamie Colvill made 11 saves in net for Northland.

St. Olaf heads south to take on Wartburg College on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 3:30 p.m. in Waverly, Iowa.