No. 24 Saint John's soccer wraps its three-game homestand against Hamline at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Collegeville. – Live Stats | Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (11-1-0, 3-1-0 MIAC) erased an early deficit to defeat Macalester 2-1 on Saturday (Oct. 3) at a rainy Haws Field.

Macalester's John Albright scored just 4:01 into the game and MAC's keeper held SJU at bay until the 70th minute. Albright's goal came after a long Macalester pass drew sophomore goalkeeper Alex Keekley (St. Louis Park, Minn./Minnetonka) out of the box, leaving just a defender for Albright to beat with a shot off a cross.

The Johnnies had a number of chances – 24 to be exact – before freshman forward Jacob Oliver (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) got the Johnnies on the board with his sixth goal of the season. Sophomore defender James Torguson (Shakopee, Minn.) took a corner kick from the left side that freshman defender Billy Cornett (Minneapolis, Minn./Cretin-Derham) – the reigning MIAC Men's Soccer Defensive Player of the Week – headed to Oliver to tap in. 

Freshman forward Soren Benson (Brainerd, Minn./Lake Region Christian) scored his fourth goal of the season and first collegiate game-winner just 5:05 later. Torguson regained possession of the ball for SJU in the midfield and dished it quickly to sophomore midfielder Eli Ryan (Victoria, Minn./Minnetonka), whose pass broke through the MAC defense and to the foot of Benson. 

The assist was Ryan's team-, MIAC- and NCAA Division III-leading 10th of the season. 

Keekley improved to 8-1 on the year and made two saves in his first non-shutout of the season.

11-1: The Johnnies' 11-1 start to the 2026 season is the program's best since 1987, when SJU opened with an 11-1-1 mark through 13 games. The team won 14-straight matches in 1986 before falling to UC-San Diego in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for that year's lone loss.

NCAA STATS: The Johnnies currently (through Oct. 4) lead all divisions of NCAA soccer in assists (58), corner kicks per game (10.33), goals (53), goal differential (+49), penalty-kick percentage (1.000/7-for-7), scoring offense (4.42 gpg.) and total points (164).

Individually, Ryan is tied for the Division III lead in assists (10), while Keekley is fifth nationally in shutouts (6) and ninth in both GAA (0.341) and save percentage (.897).

A LOOK AT THE PIPERS: Hamline (4-4-3, 1-2-2 MIAC) snapped a two-game skid with a 1-0 shutout of Saint Mary's Saturday (Oct. 3) in Winona. Junior forward Augustine Feika provided the heroics with his first goal of the season in the 70th minute. SMU posted a narrow advantage in shots (13-10), though the Pipers held a slight edge in shots on goal (7-5) and corner kicks (6-4). The two teams combined for eight yellow cards (four each). Junior forward AJ Jueseah leads the team in goals (4) and points (8), while sophomore forward Johanso Camacho has seven points (2g/3a). Freshman goalkeeper Brandon Cruz Rojas earned the win in net to improve to 3-0-1 with a 1.16 GAA and a .783 save percentage (18 saves) in five games this fall. Senior Alec Setterberg is 1-4-2 with a 1.35 GAA and .743 save percentage (26 saves).

LAST YEAR: SJU ended the regular-season schedule with a 1-0 shutout at Hamline last Nov. 1 (2025) in St. Paul. Junior forward Ronan O'Connor (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) scored the eventual game-winner 3:10 into play, a goal that gave him the program's single-season scoring record outright. 

Junior defender Thomas Theising (Minneapolis, Minn./Wayzata) started O'Connor's record-breaking goal with a takeaway in the midfield that went off a Piper for an SJU throw-in just past half. Theising launched the throw down the field for sophomore forward Lisle Cherwien (Mound, Minn./Orono). Cherwien beat a defender on the outside and fed O'Connor on the rush who tapped it between the goal post and the keeper.  

Hamline had its best chance to even the score at minute 38 of the first half, as a shot from Drew Axel bounced around in the box, but sophomore goalkeeper Cole Hanson (Urbandale, Iowa) made a quick jump behind him to keep the ball from crossing the line.  

The Pipers mustered five of their seven shots in the second half, but Hanson's shutout held with none of the attempts making it on target. 

SJU out-shot Hamline by a margin of 12-7 (4-1 on goal). Corner kicks were 4-3 in favor of the Johnnies, but all four came in the first half and all of the Pipers' in the second.  

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 37-9-3 against the Pipers since 1980, including a 19-2-2 mark in Collegeville. SJU won 23 consecutive games against HU from 1982-2004 and is 5-1-0 in its last six meetings.