Third-seeded No. 22 Saint John's soccer travels to face top-seeded No. 1 St. Olaf for the MIAC playoff championship and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, in Northfield. – Live Stats | Live Video (PPV) | Online Tickets

TICKET INFORMATION: Fans wishing to attend the game must purchase tickets online. General admission adult tickets are $12 (plus HTT service charge). Student (with ID) tickets are $3 (plus HTT service charge), and children ages five and under are admitted free. As a reminder, artificial noisemakers are not permitted at any MIAC events. – Purchase Online Tickets

PAY-PER-VIEW: The 2026 MIAC Men's Soccer Playoffs will be streamed live on the MIAC Sports Network in a pay-per-view format. Individual playoff contests will be streamed for $10 each, or $25 for a "championship pass" to stream the entire tournament live. On-demand access to playoff games will be available after the NCAA Tournament concludes.

PLAYOFF APPAREL: Official apparel for the 2026 MIAC Men's Soccer Playoffs is on sale now. The limited-time online store powered by UNRestricted MKTG. The online store features officially licensed short-sleeve t-shirts, long-sleeve t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts to commemorate the 2026 conference tournament. The items available in this shop are custom-decorated. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery. All apparel items are online-only, custom-made and all sales are final. – Playoff Apparel  

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's (17-2-2, 7-2-1 MIAC) advanced to the MIAC playoff championship game for the fourth time in program history with a dramatic, 2-1 overtime win at Gustavus Adolphus yesterday (Thursday, Nov. 5) in St. Peter.

After second-seeded Gustavus erased SJU's 1-0 lead with 30 seconds remaining in regulation, sophomore midfielder Taylor Petrich (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) served as the hero for the third-seeded Johnnies 3:07 into overtime. Freshman forward Grady Monette (Andover, Minn.) serviced a corner kick that sophomore midfielder Olin Franzwa (St. Paul, Minn./Woodbury) played down to Petrich's foot. The goal was Petrich's third of the season and second game-winner.

Saint John's settled into the game around minute 20, fending off early chances from the Gusties, who handed the Johnnies their first loss of the season – 2-0 – on Sept. 19 in Collegeville. Freshman defender Tommy Voshell (St. Paul, Minn./Central) and sophomore forward Eli Ryan (Victoria, Minn./Minnetonka) each had scoring chances within 20 seconds of each other, but both just missed early in the game. 

Freshman forward Soren Benson (Brainerd, Minn./Lake Region Christian) broke the stalemate in the 40th minute for his second goal in as many games and seventh of the season. A Gustie defender headed down a loose ball in the box with intent to clear but was met with the foot of Benson, who rifled it into the back of the net. 

Sophomore goalkeeper Austin Ertel (Brownsburg, Ind./Lawrence Central) made a pair of saves – including a dive to rob Gustavus' Simon Woods of a goal on the post – to hold the lead for the Johnnies entering halftime. 

Freshman center back Billy Cornett (Minneapolis, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) robbed GAC of a goal at 47:27, as a shot from reigning MIAC Offensive Player of the Year Joe Flory drifted behind Ertel toward the goal line before being cleared by Cornett. 

Monette had a pair of breakaways in the final 10 minutes of play, but was stopped both times by Gustavus goalkeeper Jackson Baker. His first attempt left a rebound for fellow freshman forward Jacob Oliver (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral), but Oliver's shot was saved by a sprawling Gustie defender.

As time ticked down, the Gusties moved Baker to the attacking half and converted with 30 seconds remaining on a loose ball in the box. 

Sophomore defender James Torguson (Shakopee, Minn.) forced the corner kick for the Johnnies after Gustavus started OT with two quick shots. Torguson attempted to center the ball and the Gustie defender kneed it out of play to set up the game-winner.

Ertel finished with a career-high eight saves in the game, six of which came in the second half. Monette led SJU with three shots and two on target. 

Thursday's win snapped SJU's seven-game losing streak in the series vs. Gustavus and was the team's first since a 2-1 win in overtime on Nov. 1, 2021, in the MIAC quarterfinals (in St. Peter). That result was also the Johnnies' last overtime victory until Thursday.

NEW RANKINGS: SJU jumped two spots to No. 22 in Tuesday's (Nov. 3) United Soccer Coaches' (USC) top 25 poll. The Johnnies are No. 22 in the latest NCAA Division III National Power Index (NPI, through Nov. 5) and stayed at No. 2 in the USC Region IX poll.

SJU is currently No. 13 nationally in the Massey ratings.

United Soccer Coaches Region IX Rankings
1. St. Olaf (No. 1 nationally)
2. SJU (No. 22 nationally)
3. Gustavus Adolphus
4. Luther, Iowa
5. Wisconsin-Platteville
6. Wisconsin-Superior
7. Wartburg, Iowa
8. Wisconsin-Eau Claire

15 WINS (now 17): Saturday's win served as the Johnnies' program-record 15th of the year. The previous record of 14 was set in three different seasons: 1974 (14-3-3), 1986 (14-1-0) and 2005 (14-3-3).

NCAA STATS: The Johnnies currently (through Nov. 5) lead all divisions of NCAA soccer in assists (82), corner kicks per game (8.90), goal differential (+62), penalty-kick percentage (1.000/8-for-8) and points (230). The Johnnies are second in Division III in goals (74); third in scoring offense (3.52 gpg.); fourth in shots on goal per game (10.67); fifth in shots per game (21.29); and sixth in shutout percentage (.619).

Individually, Ryan leads Division III in assists per game (0.72) and is third in total assists (13), while sophomore goalkeeper Alex Keekley (St. Louis Park, Minn./Minnetonka) is third in GAA (.434) and fourth in save percentage (.887).

SJU'S MIAC PLAYOFF HISTORY: The Johnnies are making their 15th appearance in the MIAC Playoffs, which were established in 2003, and 12th in the last 14 seasons. SJU is 10-13-2 in the conference 
tournament. Saturday's championship-game appearance is the first for SJU since 2014.

A LOOK AT THE OLES: St. Olaf (17-0-3, 9-0-1 MIAC) erased a 1-0 deficit with two goals in a span of 1:36 in the second half to win its MIAC semifinal over rival Carleton on Thursday (Nov. 5). Junior forward Jack Soares leads the Oles in goals (10) and points (22), while sophomore midfielder Tustin Todd (5g/7a) and senior midfielder Ryan Bechtel (3g/10a) are right behind him with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Soares, Todd and Charlie Piller have three game-winning goals apiece. Junior Beckett Carlson has all 20 decisions in net with a 0.62 GAA and a .803 save percentage (49 saves).

LAST MONTH: SJU fell to fell to then-No. 3 St. Olaf 3-1 back on Oct. 21 in Northfield. The Johnnies led for 19:15 in the first half after three freshmen connected on a goal just 3:32 into play, but unbeaten St. Olaf responded with three unanswered goals - two in the second half - to seal the victory. 

Midfielder Aidan Buckneberg (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley Southwest) tallied his second goal in as many games after Benson and Oliver connected to put the ball in the box. Oliver made a nifty touch with the side of his foot to set up Buckneberg for the score. 

St. Olaf evened it with a long shot from just above the box that soared into the top right corner at 22:47.  

The Oles' go-ahead goal came off a free kick outside the box after SJU was whistled for a yellow card just 4:01 after halftime. St. Olaf scored its final tally 10 minutes later, capitalizing on a defender down in the box to set up an open man. 

Buckneberg nearly scored his second of the game at 65:68, but his shot to the right corner was saved by the Oles' diving keeper.  

After a yellow card on the Oles in minute 80, Monette sent a free kick into the box, but the Johnnie attempting to head the ball was pushed to the ground in the scrum.  

St. Olaf marched down the field and had another attempt at a free kick outside of the box thanks to one of four yellow cards on SJU on the day, but sophomore goalkeeper Alex Keekley (St. Louis Park, Minn./Minnetonka) was able to punch it off the crossbar and out of play.  

Ryan saved the Oles from extending the lead again with five minutes to go, as a St. Olaf shot bounced behind Keekley. Ryan dove into the goal and kicked the ball over his own head and out of trouble. 

Oliver made one final attempt to cut the deficit, but his pass to junior forward Ronan O'Connor (Woodbury, Minn./Hill-Murray) drifted out of play and just past the goal. 

Keekley finished with five saves in goal, while Buckneberg led with three of SJU's four shots on target.

SERIES HISTORY: The Johnnies are 34-23-5 against the Oles since 1974, including a 15-12-2 advantage in Northfield. St. Olaf, however, has won each of the last nine meetings overall (11 of the last 13).

SJU is 1-3 against STO in the MIAC playoffs, all in the semifinal round:

-W, 4-1 on Nov. 5, 2014 in Northfield 
-L, 0-1 on Nov. 4, 2015 in Collegeville 
-L, 1-2 on Nov. 3, 2021 in Northfield 
-L, 1-3 on Nov. 6, 2025 in Northfield