Macalester vs. St. John's statistics
Macalester moved a step closer towards earning a spot in the four-team conference playoffs by blanking visiting St. John's 3-0 in a must-win situation for resurgent Scots, who have claimed three straight victories to move into second place in the MIAC standings.
The Scots picked up a first half goal from
Taylor Rasmussen (Fy., Eagan, Minn. / Eastview) and second half tallies from
Ryan Marshall (So., Plymouth, Minn. / Robbinsdale Armstrong) and
Stephen Murphy-Logue (Jr., Anchorage, Ak. / West) to improve to 9-7-1 overall and 6-3 in the MIAC. The Johnnies slide to 5-10-2 overall, 1-7-1 in MIAC play.
Macalester has one regular-season match remaining, Friday at Hamline, and can clinch a tie for second and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, with a win over the Pipers. On the other hand, a loss to Hamline could put an end to Mac's season. A deadlock would bring tie-breakers into play. The Scots are trying to make the league playoffs for the first time since 2005.
With all the challengers down to just one game left, the wild MIAC playoff race is still unclear. Carleton (8-1) has clinched the regular-season crown and will be joined in the post-season by three of the following team's: Macalester (6-3), St. Olaf (6-3), Concordia (5-3-1), St. Thomas (5-3-1) and Gustavus (5-3-1).
The Scots survived a stretch of six straight road games over a 3 ½ week period and since then have gone 3-0 on their home field with wins over St. Olaf, St. Thomas and St. John's, sacrificing just a couple goals in the three matches.
Rasmussen opened the scoring against the Johnnies at 38:29 on a
Reid Usedom (So., Asheville, N.C. / A.C. Reynolds) assist.
Eric Tettegah (Jr., Brooklyn Park, Minn. / Breck School) assisted on Mac's second half scores, setting up Marshall's third goal at 85:13 and Murphy-Logue's team-leading fifth goal at 86)39. Goalkeeper
Matt Weyer (So., Cedarburg, Wis.) registered his third shutout and lowered his goals against average to 0.98.
Mac out-shot SJU 22-6, including 8-2 in shots on goal.
