NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 11-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team played to a 2-2 weather-shortened tie against regionally-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College in its penultimate Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) contest of the season on Tuesday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.

In a game that included two lengthy lightning delays, St. Olaf (12-3-2, 7-0-2 MIAC) twice took the lead in the second half, but Gustavus (7-3-6, 4-2-3 MIAC) responded both times, including scoring on the final kick of the game in the 74th minute. After Diego Paulin's tying goal, both head coaches agreed to end the game early due to darkness. Earlier in the day, the Oles moved up to No. 1 in Region IX and No. 11 in the country in the United Soccer Coaches polls, while the Gusties were ranked No. 8 in the region.

With the point, St. Olaf moved one point clear of Carleton College atop the MIAC standings with 23 points with one game remaining for both teams. The Oles can secure the regular-season title outright with a win at Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday or if Carleton does not win its game at Saint John's University. St. Olaf holds the tiebreaker for playoff seeding with the Knights by virtue of a head-to-head win.

After the opening kickoff was delayed 45 minutes due to lightning, neither team was able to score in the opening half despite combining for 13 shots. St. Olaf nearly opened the scoring twice, but Wesley Sanders rushed off his line to thwart junior Shea Bechtel in the 15th minute and tipped a free kick by senior Hakeem Morgan onto the crossbar in the 39th minute to keep the game scoreless. The first half included another lightning delay of roughly 50 minutes with 17:05 to go.

Following an abbreviated three-minute halftime break, the Oles took the lead in the 55th minute when senior Casey McCloskey picked out classmate Jordan Oberholtzer at the back post with a cross from the left that Oberholtzer tucked inside the near post for his second goal of the season. The assist was McCloskey's seventh of the season, moving him within one of senior Victor Gaulmin for the most on the team.

Gustavus answered just two-and-a-half minutes later, however, as St. Olaf could not clear a long throw into the box and the ball fell to Owen Johnson for a left-footed finish in front. Less than seven minutes later, McCloskey gave the Oles their second lead of the game by firing home a rebound after Sanders could not hold Bechtel's ball across the box from the left for his fourth goal of the season. Bechtel's assist was his 86th-career point, giving him sole possession of third on St. Olaf's all-time list.

Johnson nearly tied the game for the Gusties six minutes later but saw his long-range effort hit the crossbar in the 71st minute. The visitors kept pushing and got a tying goal from Paulin three minutes later, as Paulin fired a shot into the lower-left corner of the goal from outside the box in near darkness.

St. Olaf held a slight advantage of 15-13 in shots and a 7-3 edge in shots on goal over the shortened game. Sanders recorded five saves for Gustavus, while junior Peter Forseth had one for the Oles.

On the final day of the regular season, St. Olaf heads to Moorhead to face the Cobbers in a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, Oct. 28 while looking to earn the regular-season MIAC title and the top seed in the MIAC Playoffs.