NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The third-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team closed out the regular season with a 2-1 non-conference victory over visiting UW-Platteville on Tuesday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.
Sophomore
Jack Soares and junior
Ryan Bechtel scored early goals for St. Olaf (15-1-3), which held off UW-Platteville (7-4-5) the rest of the way to finish the regular season on a winning note. The win extended the Oles' unbeaten streak to 13 games (11-0-2) entering the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs, which begin next week. Earlier in the day, St. Olaf moved up to No. 3 in the United Soccer Coaches national poll to tie the highest regular-season ranking in program history.
St. Olaf's 15 wins this season are tied for the fifth-highest total in program history. The victory also marked the fourth time (1987, 1999, 2021, 2025) in program history that the Oles finished the regular season with just one loss.
Soares gave St. Olaf a very-early lead by scoring his team-leading 11th goal of the season in the fourth minute. After sophomore
Ryan Wilson played Soares in behind, the sophomore dribbled around the goalie and slotted the ball home to open the scoring.
Bechtel doubled the Oles' lead in the 22nd minute by lifting the ball into the roof of the next from in the box after sophomore
Charlie Piller's shot was blocked and came to Bechtel's feet. The goal was Bechtel's ninth of the season and extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.
Bechtel nearly added his second goal of the game in the 34th minute, but his shot from outside the box on the right hit the woodwork near the top corner. Early in the second half, UW-Platteville cut its deficit in half when Danny Gutzwiller lofted the ball over sophomore
Beckett Carlson after a deflected shot in the box, making it a 2-1 game in the 51st minute.
St. Olaf held on the rest of the way to pick up the one-goal victory on an afternoon where the Pioneers held slim edges in shots (10-9) and shots on goal (5-4). The biggest of Carlson's four saves came in the 13th minute, when the sophomore got down at full extension to thwart Ethan Dietrich's shot from the right side of the box.
After earning a bye in the quarterfinals, the Oles will host a MIAC Playoff semifinal on Thursday, Nov. 6.
