NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The fourth-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team advanced to the national quarterfinals for the second time in program history by holding off No. 15-ranked Williams College, 2-1, in the third round on Saturday at Rolf Mellby Field.

In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, St. Olaf (19-2-3) got goals from sophomore Charlie Piller and junior Ryan Bechtel in the first 30 minutes in a first half the Oles largely controlled. Williams (10-5-4) fought back in the second half with a goal from Evan Vasquez in the 70th minute and piled on the pressure after that but could not find a second goal.

With the win, St. Olaf moved on to the national quarterfinals where they will face eighth-ranked Wheaton College (Mass.), which edged Macalester College, 1-0, in the second third-round game of the day. The Oles and Lyons will meet for the first time in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Rolf Mellby Field on Sunday, Nov. 23 for a spot in the national semifinals.

St. Olaf struck first inside the opening six minutes, as Piller capitalized on a misguided header by a Williams defender to drill the ball in from eight yards out for his sixth goal of the season. The Oles added a second goal in the 28th minute when Bechtel finished off sequence of passes on the right side for his 11th goal of the season, with sophomores Ryan Wilson and Harry Ross combining to get Bechtel a tap in.

In the 37th minute, St. Olaf was awarded a penalty kick after sophomore Lucas Montera was taken down in the box, but Williams goalkeeper Aleix Anglada made a save to deny senior Robi Buzakovic's spot kick that was headed for the lower-left corner. Less than a minute later, Anglada again made a highlight-reel save to parry away junior Sean Elster's effort at full stretch.

After being outshot 10-6 in the opening 45 minutes, the Ephs took nine of the second half's 11 shots and were rewarded for their pressure in the 70th minute. Shortly after a corner kick, Leon Ma recycled the ball into the box, Jake Farmer got a head to it, and Vasquez forced it over the line to get Williams back in the game.

The Ephs generated five more shots after Vasquez's goal, just one of which was on target. Williams' best chance to score came in the final two minutes when a long ball into the box bounced around, but no Eph was able to generate a shot on goal before the Oles got the ball away to safety.