NORTHFIELD, Minn. – After having their regular-season finale postponed one day by poor field conditions, the Carleton College men’s soccer team dropped a 2-0 decision at St. Olaf College. The loss snapped the Knights 12-game win streak that spanned six weeks.
With the wins, the Oles (13-3-2, 7-3 MIAC) earned a berth in the conference playoffs, which begin later this week. St. Olaf will be the third seed and play at Macalester, while top-seed Carleton (14-4, 8-2 MIAC) hosts the University of St. Thomas. Both matches will be played at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Carleton controlled the game early, but the Oles scored in the 38th minute when Jack Pueringer took a long feed from Nathan Swenson and shot past Carleton keeper Pete Semmer (Jr./Del Mar, Calif./Bishop’s School). The goal ignited the Oles, who controlled run of play for much of the remainder of the half.
The Knights were back on the attack in the opening minutes of the second half, but the home team tacked on an insurance goal off a counterattack in the 63rd minute as Nelson set up John Zietlow. The Knights had numerous chances in the final 13 minutes, including Ryan Cammarota (So./Neenah, Wis.) hitting the post and Miles Silbert (So./St. Louis Park, Minn.) narrowly missing on a couple of chances, including one blast from the six-yard box that was cleared away by an Ole defender.
This was the first time the Carleton defense surrendered more than one goal since the Knights last loss, back on Sept. 16 vs. Gustavus.
