ST. PAUL, Minn. – In their MIAC opener, the Macalester College men's soccer team came ready to play, defeating #23 Augsburg College 4-1 at Macalester Stadium on Wednesday night. The Scots scored three goals in the first half and did not look back from there, starting the conference season 1-0 and remaining unbeaten against ranked opponents so far this year.
 
Macalester improves to 11-5-2 in their all-time series history with Augsburg, posting an impressive 8-1 record against the Auggies when playing at home. This was also the fifth straight year that the Scots have opened MIAC play with a win.
 
The Macalester offense was active all night, but got going especially early in the game as senior Nick Moore (Georgetown, Mass./Governor's Academy) gave the Scots a 1-0 lead in the second minute of play. Moore finished off a scramble in the box for his second goal this season.
 
Only a few minutes later, Moore again looked to strike, this time making a pass across the field which would have found sophomore Jack Muller (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) wide open on the other side of the net, but the pass was deflected by the Augsburg defense just in time to keep the score at 1-0.
 
This one goal lead did not last long, however, as sophomore Danny Peak (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar) fired a shot in the 14^th minute that found the top right corner of the net to put Macalester up by two. This was Peak's first collegiate goal.
 
The Scots' offense did not stop there, getting one more goal in before the halftime break. This time it was sophomore Will Orser (Eau Claire, Wis./Eau Claire Memorial) who finished off a corner kick play, heading in a pass from Omar Anwar (St. Paul, Minn./Roseville Area) for his second goal this year.
 
In the first half, each team took seven shots, with the Scots being incredibly efficient, getting six of their seven shots on net.
 
Macalester scored early in the second half as well, getting a goal within the first thirty seconds. Senior Chris Bajek (Fitchburg, Wis./Madison West) took a pass from Muller and buried it to put the Scots up 4-0. This was Bajek's second goal this season.
 
The Auggies were able to get one of those goals back in the 70^th minute when Nick Zuchowski finished off a passing play to get his team back within three. The Macalester defense and goalkeeper Cade Fink (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) held strong, though, only allowing two more shots in the game. Fink made a diving save on one of those shots to keep it a three-goal game and the other shot missed wide, allowing Macalester to come away with the 4-1 win.
 
Fink ended with three saves on the night and improves to 2-2-3 on the year.
 
The Scots are next in action on Saturday as they will look to make it four in a row as they travel to face St. Olaf at 1:00 p.m.