ST. PAUL, Minn. – The regionally-ranked St. Olaf College women's soccer team secured the No. 3 seed in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Soccer Playoffs with a 1-0 victory over Hamline University on Saturday at Pat Paterson Field.
St. Olaf (13-2-4, 8-2-1 MIAC) got the win over Hamline (4-12-2, 0-10-1 MIAC) it needed to claim the No. 3 seed by virtue of senior
Roxanne Rundle's 59th-minute header off a corner kick from classmate
Wren VanDeWalker, who took sole possession of the program's all-time assists record with the assist. The victory extended the Oles' unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) heading into the postseason. St. Olaf was ranked No. 6 this week in the United Soccer Coaches Region IX Poll.
The win was also St. Olaf's sixth consecutive shutout in the series and made the Oles unbeaten in the last 10 meetings (9-0-1) between the two programs. The 1-0 loss was the seventh of the season in MIAC play by that margin for the Pipers, their fourth in a row, and their eighth 1-0 defeat overall this season.
St. Olaf outshot Hamline by a 9-1 margin overall in the opening half, but the teams went into the break scoreless. In the 59th minute, the Oles earned a corner kick that VanDeWalker put on the head of Rundle for a glancing header inside the far post for Rundle's fourth goal of the season. VanDeWalker's assist was the 24th of her career, breaking a tie with
Cat Duffy-Shaw '26 for the most in recorded program history.
Hamline generated just one shot after Rundle's goal and got just one of its six shots in the game on goal, as sophomore
Charlotte Percy had just one save to make in claiming her fifth shutout of the season. Percy improved to 11-2-3 this year with the victory in a game where the Oles got nine of their 18 shots on goal.
St. Olaf will host sixth-seeded Bethel University in the quarterfinals of the MIAC Playoffs at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
