NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 1-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team fell in an early 1-0 hole but picked up a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory over the College of St. Scholastica on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Rolf Mellby Field.
After St. Scholastica (6-6-0, 3-2-0 MIAC) opened the scoring in the sixth minute, junior
Jack Soares and sophomore
Ricardo Filotas scored 19 seconds appear less than five minutes later to send St. Olaf (12-0-1, 5-0-0 MIAC) on its way to the win. The win kept the Oles, who were ranked No. 1 in the country for the third week in a row by the United Soccer Coaches, as one of eight remaining undefeated NCAA Division III men's teams this season.
Prior to the game, St. Olaf celebrated its senior class of
Ryan Bechtel,
Karsten Segall, and
Sean Elster, as well as their families, on the field. The senior class improved to 67-10-11 in their careers with the win. The victory also extended the Oles' MIAC regular-season unbeaten streak to 37 games (31-0-6) dating back to a loss to eighth-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College on Oc. 15, 2022.
Soares got into double figures in goals for the second season in a row with two to give him 10 for the season. The two-goal afternoon moved Soares into 10th place in program history with 26 goals for his career. Junior
Mateo Ormaza also scored in the win.
With the visitors playing with the wind that gusted to over 30 miles per hour in the opening half, St. Scholastica took an early lead when Parker Chastey lashed the ball into the lower-right portion of the next after a free kick from near midfield was not cleared in the St. Olaf box. The game was also played in near-record temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s.
The quick-fire goals from Soares and Filotas in the space of 19 seconds quickly erased Chastey's opener, however. Soares turned in a low, driven cross from Bechtel just over 10 minutes in before Filotas hit a low shot through traffic that found the lower-left corner moments after the ensuing kickoff. Filotas' goal was the first of his collegiate career.
With the Oles still clinging to the 2-1 lead midway through the second half, Soares extended St. Olaf's lead to 3-1 in the 68th minute by chipping the ball past a rushing goalkeeper after being slotted in by sophomore
Daniel Fuentes. Fuentes also set up the Oles' fourth goal by finding Ormaza in the box before Ormaza tucked the ball into the lower-left corner in the final 15 minutes.
St. Olaf outshot St. Scholastica by an 8-3 margin in the second half to end the game with a 13-9 edge in overall shots. Junior
Beckett Carlson made three saves to improve to 12-0-1 on the season before first year
Finn Shirmeyer played the final 11:29.
The Oles will host UW-Superior in non-conference play at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
