NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's soccer team scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to break a 2-2 tie and went on to claim a 4-3 victory over Gustavus Adolphus College on Wednesday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.

After the teams both found the back of the net twice in the opening 20 minutes, sophomore Cat Duffy-Shaw and first year Emily Johnson scored goals early in the second half for St. Olaf (6-4-4, 4-2-3 MIAC), which held off Gustavus (7-7-1, 3-5-1 MIAC) the rest of the way despite the Gusties scoring in the final two minutes to make it a one-goal game. The game marked the fifth-straight meeting between the two programs decided by a single goal.

Johnson recorded her first-career two-goal game by scoring once in each half for the Oles, while Klagge had a goal and an assist, and junior Faith Yi added the first two-assist game of her career. The win kept St. Olaf firmly in the hunt for a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs with two games remaining, as the Oles moved into a tie for fourth in the standings with Macalester College, which takes on Saint Mary's University later on Wednesday night.

St. Olaf wasted little time in opening the scoring, as Johnson scored her first goal of the game inside the first two minutes by tucking a cross from first year Roxanne Rundle from the right end line in under the bar. Gustavus answered just 32 seconds later, however, when Cambelle Waldspurger seized a misplayed pass along the St. Olaf backline and scored on a breakaway to tie the game at 1-1.

Fifteen minutes later, Waldspurger got her second goal of the afternoon by firing home a free kick from just outside the box to give the Gusties a 2-1 advantage. The lead lasted just over 90 seconds, however, as Yi found Klagge in the box with a throw-in and Klagge slotted the ball home for her second goal in three games. The teams went into the halftime break even at 2-2 despite St. Olaf holding a 10-3 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Duffy-Shaw tallied her second collegiate goal by bending a cross into the box from the right wing that made it through a crowd of bodies in the box and nestled inside the far post. The Oles added to their lead less than 10 minutes later when Klagge lofted a ball in behind the Gustavus backline that Johnson ran onto before tucking a shot into the lower-left corner for her team-leading seventh goal of the season.

St. Olaf maintained its 4-2 cushion until the final minutes when Lillian Selberg finished off a series of quick passes by slotting the ball home in front off assists from Waldspurger and Jordan Oelkers. After the ensuing kickoff, the Gusties were unable to get the ball near the Oles' net in their efforts to snatch a point late on.

The four-goal output marked a season-high total for St. Olaf, which had not scored three goals in a game all season before a 3-3 tie at Augsburg University on Saturday. The Oles outshot the Gusties by a 19-6 count in the game but held just a 5-3 edge in shots on goal, as seven of the nine combined shots on goal in the game resulted in goals.

St. Olaf continues its pursuit of a playoff spot with a trip to St. Joseph to face the College of Saint Benedict on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 3:30 p.m. The Bennies are one point ahead of the Oles in the standings entering the game.