MIAC Men’s Soccer Playoffs – Carleton and Macalester Advance

St. Paul, Minn. — Carleton and Macalester used shutout performances by their defenses on Wednesday to advance to the finals of the 2009 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Men’s Soccer Playoffs. #1 Carleton defeated #4 St. Thomas 3-0 in Northfield and #2 Macalester edged #3 St. Olaf 1-0 in double overtime tonight in St. Paul.

Senior Ross Hamilton converted a penalty kick opportunity in the 25th minute to give Carleton a 1-0 halftime lead over St. Thomas. Tim Wills then assisted on second-half insurance goals by Wes Elfman and Ryan Cammarota to put the game away. Defenders Lyndon DeSalvo, Robert Carlton, Hamilton, and Courtney Morris turned in possibly their best performance of the year, limiting the Tommies’ dynamic forwards, Mike Hutton and Elliott Amundson, without a single shot attempt on the afternoon.

Macalester’s Taylor Rasmussen scored his sixth goal of the season from three yards out at 5:06 of the second overtime to send the Scots on to the MIAC championship game. Jesse Geary assisted on the lone goal of the game that came from a driven corner kick that Ole keeper Alex Kuehl couldn’t hang on to. Both defenses played strong throughout the game, St. Olaf’s Kuehl and Macalester’s Matt Weyer each recorded five saves. Macalester held a slight advantage in shots (21-15) and shots on goal (6-5) in the win.

Carleton will now host Macalester on Saturday, November 7 in the finals of the MIAC Playoffs. Game time is set for 1 p.m. The MIAC Playoff Champion will earn the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.