NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 1-ranked St. Olaf College men's soccer team scored three late goals to get past crosstown-rival Carleton by a 3-0 score in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Wednesday afternoon at Bell Field.
Junior
Jack Soares, sophomore
Tustin Todd, and junior
Kymani Chitulangoma all scored in the final 16-plus minutes for St. Olaf (10-0-0, 3-0-0 MIAC) as the Oles downed Carleton (5-4-0, 1-2-0 MIAC) for the fifth consecutive meeting. Four of those victories have come by shutout. St. Olaf has recorded shutouts in seven of its 10 games and has outscored its opponents by a 26-3 margin.
The win kept St. Olaf, which was ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive week by the United Soccer Coaches, as the lone NCAA Division III men's soccer program to win each of its games this season. The Oles also extended their MIAC regular-season unbeaten streak to 35 games (29-0-6).
With the game still scoreless, Soares broke the deadlock in the 74th minute by scoring on a deflected shot after junior
Charlie Piller swung a cross into the box from deep. The goal was Soares' team-leading eighth of the season, as the junior has scored in six of the Oles' last seven games.
Just less than three minutes later, Todd tallied his first goal of the season with a curling shot that flew in under the bar in the top-right corner of the net. Chitulangoma capped the late flurry by heading in a cross from senior
Ryan Bechtel in the 84th minute for his first goal of the season.
In the first half, St. Olaf had the bulk of the possession, but Carleton created most of the clear-cut scoring chances. The best of those chances came in the fifth minute, when junior
Blaine Batchelor got his head to a goal-bound shot by Hans Lechner to flick it out for a corner kick.
St. Olaf had a 17-12 advantage in shots and a 10-4 edge in shots on goal in the game, while also having nine of the game's 12 corner kicks. Adam Ouachani made seven saves in the loss for the Knights, while junior
Beckett Carlson had three stops for the Oles.
St. Olaf will be back at home on Saturday, Oct. 3 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff against Concordia-Moorhead.
