MOORHEAD, Minn. – The fifth-seeded St. Olaf College men's hockey team scored twice in the span of 1:10 midway through the third period to break a 2-2 tie and went on to defeat fourth-seeded Concordia-Moorhead, 4-3, in the quarterfinals of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs on Friday night at Moorhead Sports Center.

With St. Olaf (14-10-2) and Concordia (12-12-2) tied at 2-2, first year Kelijah McElroy and sophomore Troy Bowditch scored goals 1:10 apart to give the Oles a 4-2 lead midway through the final period. The Cobbers pulled a goal back with 3:34 remaining and pushed for a tying goal by pulling its goaltender for the final 2:10 but came up empty.

With the win, St. Olaf advances to the semifinals where it will face the top-seeded and first-time regular-season champion College of St. Scholastica on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in Duluth. The other semifinal between third-seeded Saint John's University and second-seeded Augsburg University is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The victory was the fourth in a row in the MIAC Playoffs for St. Olaf, which won the tournament for the second time last season with three-straight road victories as the No. 7 seed. Last season's run also started in Moorhead with a 3-2 win over the Cobbers. St. Olaf has now won at least one playoff game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since claiming at least one victory in four-straight seasons from 2004-07.

Fellow sophomores Tyler Cooper and Matthew Pointer joined Bowditch – who returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 20 – in recording a goal and an assist in the game.

Concordia grabbed a quick 1-0 lead when Jaret Lalli scored just 3:01 into the game for the lone goal of the opening period. In the second period, it was the Oles' turn to score an early goal, however, as Bowditch found Pointer down low in the right circle for Pointer's fifth goal of the season just 1:09 in to tie it at 1-1.

Less than 11 minutes later, St. Olaf grabbed its first lead of the night when Cooper registered his team-leading 12th goal of the season at the 11:42 mark. Pointer set up the goal by finding Cooper in front from behind the net after a turnover and Cooper took care of the rest to give the Oles a 2-1 lead after two periods.

In the third, Concordia tied the game for a second time on a power-play goal by Caden Triggs less than six minutes in. It didn't take St. Olaf long to take the lead back, however, as McElroy broke a 21-game goal drought with his third of the season off an assist from sophomore Sean Walsh at 8:22 for the go-ahead goal.

Bowditch scored unassisted just 1:10 after McElroy's tally to get into double figures for the season with his third game-winning goal of the year. The sophomore, who missed the last six games due to injury, has 27 points on 10 goals and 17 assists in just 19 games this season.

The Cobbers made it interesting late when Mason Plante made it a one-goal game with 3:34 still to go. After Plante's goal Concordia generated five shots on goal with the extra attacker, but sophomore Thomas Lalonde saved all five to preserve the victory.

Lalonde recorded 29 saves – 12 each in the first and third periods – to collect his sixth win of the season. Matt Fitzgerald had 17 saves in the loss for Concordia, which held a 32-21 advantage in shots on goal in the game.