Men's Soccer 9/13/06 -- Augsburg 1, St. Olaf 0 

BOXSCORE

MINNEAPOLIS (9/13/06) -- James See (So., Richfield, Minn./Holy Angels HS) scored on a scramble in front of the net in the 63rd minute, providing the only goal for Augsburg College in a 1-0 victory over St. Olaf College in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer game Wednesday night before 320 fans at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.

After a throw-in by Alex Hildebrandt (Fr., St. Paul, Minn./Highland Park HS), the ball was loose in front of the net, and See found the ball in the scramble and put it home, lifting Augsburg to its sixth straight victory to open the season.

"James See chose a good time to score his first collegiate goal,” said Augsburg coach Greg Holker. "Neither team had any clean scoring chances. Most of the shots on goal came from set plays, and fortunately, one of ours resulted in a goal.”

The Auggies are now 6-0-0 on the season, while St. Olaf drops to 2-1-0. It was the first MIAC game for both teams.

"We continue to recieve strong support from our student body, and it helped us tonight," Holker said. "St. Olaf is a good team, they have good pace and are technically clean. It was important for us to get points off of a team that historically finishes higher than Augsburg, as we try to put ourselves in a position to get into that (four-team conference postseason) playoff."

Augsburg claimed its sixth straight shutout to start the season and eighth dating to last year. Augsburg has now outscored its opponents by a 15-0 margin in its six victories this season. Augsburg's shutout streak has now reached 752 minutes -- eight straight shutouts and 12 minutes of a ninth game dating to last year.

St. Olaf outshot the Auggies by an 18-14 margin, including an 11-7 margin in the second half, but Augsburg goalkeeper Pascaul Venter (So., Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) made six saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and sixth of his career.

Eric Smith (Jr., Bainbridge Island, Wash.) made five saves for St. Olaf.

Josh Stepaniak (Fr., Woodbury, Minn.) had four shots for Augsburg, while See and Vinnie Brooks * (Sr., Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS) had two shots each.

Barrett Kennedy (So., Eagan, Minn.) had four shots to lead St. Olaf, while Abu Farah (Sr., Rochester, Minn./Century HS) and Phil Kennedy (Fr., Eagan, Minn.) had three shots each for the Oles.

After starting the season with five of its first six games at home, Augsburg now takes to the road for its next four games, starting on Saturday (9/16) at 1 p.m., with an MIAC game at Hamline. St. Olaf returns to MIAC play also on Saturday at 1 p.m., hosting St. John's.

"Jacob Helling is as dangerous a goal scorer as any in the MIAC. He makes me nervous remembering how he scored against us last year in our 1-1 draw," Holker said. "I have great respect for Andy Coutts, and I know his team will be well organized and prepared to play, especially on their home field."