RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The top-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team scored twice in the opening 10 minutes and went on to secure a 3-0 non-conference victory over UW-River Falls on Tuesday afternoon at Ramer Soccer Stadium.

After seeing its program-record 23-game unbeaten streak come to an end on Sunday, St. Olaf (2-1-0) rebounded with its second shutout victory of the season in the first-ever meeting with UW-River Falls (1-1-0). The game was the second in program history for the Falcons, who defeated Crown College in their first game as a varsity program on Friday.

Junior Caspar Olseth and senior Shea Bechtel tallied goals in the opening 10 minutes for the Oles, who also got a goal from sophomore Abdirasak Bulale to take a 3-0 lead midway through the opening half. St. Olaf outshot UW-River Falls by a 23-3 margin overall and a 9-1 count in shots on goal.

Just under seven minutes into the game, St. Olaf opened the scoring when Olseth nodded in a right-wing free kick by first year Lucas Montera to give the Oles an early lead. The goal was the 10th of Olseth's career, while Montera picked up his first collegiate point with the assist.

Less than two-and-a-half minutes later, St. Olaf doubled its advantage on Bechtel's first goal of the season, as the senior tapped the ball in after Montera headed a cross from fifth-year senior Clemente Arcuch Puig back to Bechtel in the middle. With the goal, Bechtel moved into a tie with John Zietlow '11 for the program's all-time points record with 96.

The Oles extended their lead to 3-0 midway through the first half when Bulale found the back of the net for the second time in three games to start the season. The sophomore slotted the ball home on a breakaway after being played in by Arcuch Puig, who matched Montera with two assists in the victory.

Despite playing the final 26-plus minutes down to 10 players after a Falcon was shown a second yellow card in the 64th minute, UW-River Falls held St. Olaf scoreless for the remainder of the game. Senior Peter Forseth – who was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week earlier in the day – had only one save to make in collecting the 15th shutout of his career to assume sole possession of fourth place in program history in the category.

After three consecutive road games to start the season, St. Olaf will face the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in its home opener on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 4:30 p.m. at Rolf Mellby Field. The game will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.