NORTHFIELD, Minn. – A late header by first year Caspar Olseth gave the St. Olaf College men's soccer team a 1-0 victory over Bethel University in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) opener on Tuesday at Rolf Mellby Field.

St. Olaf (3-3-0, 1-0-0 MIAC) outshot Bethel (2-2-0, 0-1-0 MIAC) by a 27-7 margin in the game, including an 11-1 advantage in shots on goal, but had to wait until the 86th minute for the breakthrough. On the second of back-to-back corner kicks, Olseth headed in an in-swinging ball from junior Hakeem Morgan for the second goal of his career to give the Oles a winning start to conference play.

The victory was St. Olaf's fourth-straight win in a MIAC opener dating back to 2018 and ran the Oles' winning streak to 11 consecutive games in conference play. St. Olaf also improved to 14-2-1 at home since the start of last season.

The Oles held an 8-6 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes before outshooting the Royals by a 19-1 margin in the second half. Juan Valdivia Cortes made nine saves in the loss for Bethel, which also blocked a shot goal-bound shot on the line with 15 minutes to go in a scoreless game.

With the game still scoreless entering the final 15 minutes, Morgan nearly broke the deadlock in the 77th minute, curling a left-footed shot off the far post from the right side of the box. Seconds later, Bethel went down to 10 men as the result of a second yellow card.

Less than two minutes after the red card, first year Robi Buzakovic drew a save from Valdivia Cortes near the lower-left corner of the net on a shot from 20 yards out. On the ensuing corner, Buzakovic unleashed a left-footed shot from the top of the box that hit the underside of the crossbar and stayed out.

St. Olaf's pressure eventually paid off in the 86th minute when Olseth nodded in Morgan's corner from close range for the lone goal of the game. The late winner was the second of the season for the Oles, who got an 88th-minute goal from junior Clemente Arcuch Puig to edge Central College on Sept. 5.

Junior Austin Williams only had one save to make to pick up the win for St. Olaf, which hits the road on Saturday, Sept. 17 to face Hamline University in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff in St. Paul.