NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Senior Hakeem Morgan scored a hat trick as the No. 14-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team rolled to a 7-0 victory over non-conference foe Knox College on Sunday morning at Rolf Mellby Field.

Morgan recorded the first hat trick of his collegiate career, scoring three of the first four goals of the game for St. Olaf (1-1-0), which outshot Knox (0-2-0) by a 28-3 margin, including a 16-1 count in shots on goal, in the game. The meeting was just the third between the two programs and the second since 1973. The game was a rare 9:30 a.m. kickoff to avoid mid-90s temperatures later in the day.

The Prairie Fire played nearly 50 minutes with 10 players and the last 15-plus minutes with nine players as a result of two straight red cards. Morgan's hat trick was the first by an Ole since Farid Sani scored three times against Saint Mary's University on Oct. 1, 2019. His seven points are the joint second-highest single-game total in program history and are one shy of the single-game school record. The victory was St. Olaf's first under first-year head coach Justin Oliver.

Morgan and junior Shea Bechtel accounted for five goals and two assists in the win for the Oles, as Morgan added an assist to his three-goal morning and Bechtel tallied two goals and one assist. Senior Victor Gaulmin registered two assists, while sophomore Chaneek Park and first year Abdirasak Bulale were also on the scoresheet.



St. Olaf made the breakthrough in the 13th minute when senior Jordan Oberholtzer and Gaulmin combined to get the ball to Morgan, who curled a left-footed shot into the top-left corner from the top of the box. Less than six minutes later, the Oles doubled their lead when Gaulmin intercepted a pass high up the field and found Bechtel, who rolled the ball into the net.

It did not take much longer for St. Olaf to push its lead to 3-0 at the half, as Morgan bent a free kick from near the right corner of the box into the lower-right corner for the Oles' third goal in less than 15 minutes. The free kick came as the result of the first red card assessed to the Prairie Fire. Morgan completed his hat trick with a header off of a cross from Bechtel less than three minutes into the second half.

Bechtel and Morgan connected again for St. Olaf's fourth goal, as Morgan set up Bechtel's second goal of the game in the 55th minute to make it 5-0. The Oles scored twice more after the second Knox red card, getting Park's second-career goal in the 85th minute and Bulale's first-career tally in the final minute.

Junior Peter Forseth had just one save to make in the came in earning the shutout victory. Nicolas Lantzendorffer made eight saves for Knox in the loss.

St. Olaf ventures to Ohio next weekend to take on a pair of teams who were both ranked in this week's United Soccer Coaches national poll, beginning with a matchup with Ohio Wesleyan University on Friday, Sept 8 at 6 p.m. Two days later, St. Olaf faces Kenyon College, led by former St. Olaf head coach Travis Wall, in a 10 a.m. kickoff.