St. Olaf’s season came down to an overtime period that ended with the program’s first national championship after a 2-1 win over Amherst College on Sunday in Salem, Virginia.

Competing in its first national championship game, St. Olaf (20-3-3) fell behind 1-0 early in the second half when Amherst (16-3-4) struck first on a goal by Luka Ohadike, but the Oles fought back to tie the game in the 62nd minute through senior Hakeem Morgan. The teams went to overtime tied at 1-1 before senior Casey McCloskey scored his third goal of the weekend just 1:08 into the first overtime for the game-winning goal.

***Click the video box below to hear comments from Shea Bechtel, Casey McCloskey and Justin Oliver***

St. Olaf competes at the NCAA DIII level. Sunday’s win was a record setting 20th win of the season for St. Olaf, breaking a tie with the 2021 team – and extended the program’s record-long unbeaten streak to 22 games (19-0-3). The national title was the first by a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) institution in men’s soccer and made St. Olaf the western-most program to win the national title in men’s soccer since Trinity University (Texas) in 2003.

Click here for more information on the St. Olaf men’s soccer program.

(St. Olaf Athletes contributed information to this article.)