ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – Two second-half goals broke a 2-2 tie at halftime, as the Macalester College men's soccer team beat Bethel University, 4-2 Wednesday afternoon at Ona Orth Athletic Complex. The Scots improve to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while the Royals drop to 6-5, 2-2 MIAC.
Early in the first half, Bethel started what would be a flurry of offense with the game's first goal, a header by Nathan Hunt off a cross from James Oberholtzer, in the 11th minute. Ninety seconds later, Macalester answered with a goal by senior forward
Hans Haenicke (Lisle, Ill./Benet Academy) off a nice through ball up the middle from senior forward
Grant Luce (Seattle, Wash./Ballard).
Less than two minutes later, the Royals scored a carbon copy of their first goal, this time Bereket Bereketab headed in Oberholtzer's cross from the right for a 2-1 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Haenicke dribbled straight up the middle and found sophomore forward
Chris Frantz (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) to the right. Frantz blasted a shot into the left side of the goal from 18 yards out to tie the score at 2-2. The goal came just 10 seconds after Bethel's second goal, as the teams combined for four goals in 4:31.
Although neither team scored for the rest of the first half, the Scots got things started early in the second. Just 1:17 after halftime, junior midfielder
Tanguy Lesegretain (Warren, N.J./Watchung Hills) won the ball in the midfield and sent Haenicke in alone with a pass up the middle. Haenicke made no mistake, beating Bethel goalkeeper Griffin Blokker for his ninth goal of the season. Then in the 78th minute, Macalester netted an insurance goal with Luce setting up Frantz for a goal from the right side. Frantz now has five goals on the season, while Luce's three assists on the day give him five for the year.
The Scots held an 11-6 advantage in shots, with senior goalkeeper
Sam Price (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech) making one save. Blokker registered four saves for the Royals.
Macalester hosts MIAC foe St. Olaf on Saturday, Oct. 5 in a match-up between two regionally-ranked teams. The game starts at 3:30 p.m. at John Leaney Field at Macalester Stadium.
