On Tap
Fifth-seeded Macalester is slated to take on fourth-seed St. John's in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs today at 11:30 a.m. at the Johnnies' Haws Field in Collegeville, Minn.

Records
Macalester, 11-5-2 overall, 6-3-1 MIAC (19 pts, 5th place)
Saint John's, 11-6-0 overall, 7-3-0 MIAC (21 pts, 4th place)
 
Last Week
The Scots wrapped up a playoff spot with Tuesday's 2-1 win over Concordia and secured the fifth seed, Saturday, with a 2-0 win over St. Mary's.
 
Macalester earned a spot in the MIAC playoffs for the first time since 2010 in thrilling fashion as Zach Moore scored his first collegiate goal with 44 seconds to play in the game in the win over Concordia.
 
Saturday, Charlie Spurr ended a seven-game goal-scoring drought and Wilson Merrell scored his first career goal to give the Scots the 2-0 win over St. Mary's.
 
When Last We Met
Macalester traveled to St. John's, Sept. 30, and dropped a 2-1 decision. All of the scoring came in the first half as St. John's scored just 5:46 into the game and, after Danny Baumann tied the score for the Scots in the 34th minute, the Johnnies responded less than five minutes later as Dylan Lehrer scored the eventual game winner.
 
Following the Scots
Live video and stats will be available courtesy of St. John's Stretch Internet portal at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/csbsju/.
 
He's the Boss
Gregg Olson is in his third season at the helm of the Macalester men's soccer team. During his time as the Scots' mentor, he has put together a 23-26-5 record.
 
In his second year with the program, Olson's squad doubled its win total from four to eight, having gone 4-13-1 in 2012 before posting an 8-8-2 mark last season.

Prior to being named the head coach at Macalester, Olson was an assistant coach at Stanford for four seasons and served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Vermont, for six seasons.

A four-year starter for the Catamounts, and a 2000 graduate of Vermont, Olson was a team captain as a senior and graduated with degrees in English and Geography. The Rockford, Ill., native was a three-time winner of the team's Donoson Fitzgerald Award for perseverance, integrity and sportsmanship. After graduating from college, Olson spent two seasons playing semi-professionally before beginning his coaching career.
 
Mac Musings
Zeke Vainer posted his ninth shutout of the season, Saturday, and fourth in five games but saw his shutout streak come to an end at 482 minutes, 49 seconds. His streak covered five games and spanned 17 days.

Vainer finished the regular season as the league leader in games played and started (18), minutes played (1667:35), save percentage (.829), wins (11) and shutouts (9).

Alan Schembri-Wismayer tied for the MIAC lead in assists through the end of the regular season (10) and his average of 0.63 topped all league players.
 
Zach Moore, playing just his sixth game of his freshman season, scored his first career goal, Tuesday, which proved to be the game winner.
 
Junior Wilson Merrell was playing in just his fourth career game, Saturday, when he scored his first career goal.
 
Senior Mark McCrae-Hokenson, starting and playing in his first game, Saturday, recorded a shot on goal in his nine minutes of action.
 
A total of 23 field players saw action, Saturday, as the Scots were locked into fifth place in the final MIAC standings, regardless of the outcome of the game.

The Playoff Slate
Both first-round MIAC playoff games will occur simultaneously today as Macalester is at Saint John's while No. 6 St. Thomas is at No. 4 Carleton, with both games getting underway at 11:30 a.m.
 
Tomorrow, regular-season champion St. Olaf will host the winner of the Macalester/Saint John's game at 2 p.m. while second-seeded Gustavus Adolphus will host the St. Thomas/Carleton winner, also at 2 p.m.
 
Saturday, the highest remaining seed will host the conference championship game with the game time to be announced. The winner of that game will receive the MIAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Championship, which gets underway Nov. 13.