SALEM, Va. – #11 St. Olaf's Casey McCloskey scored the game-winning goal, his second of the contest, with 16:51 remaining in the game to give St. Olaf a 2-1 lead on its way to a 3-1 win over #18 Washington College on Friday afternoon at Donald J. Kerr Stadium in the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Soccer National Semifinal.  The Oles (19-3-3) advance to Sunday's final where they will play the survivor of #13 Amherst and Washington and Lee, while the Shoremen, who was playing in their first Final Four and program record 23rd game of the season, have their campaign end at 14-3-6. 

#11 St. Olaf 3 #18 Washington College 1

How It Happened
- The Shoremen had their first big chance in the 10th minute on a shot from the top of the 18 from Harrison Malone, but his shot was tipped over the crossbar by Peter Forseth.
- Hakeem Morgan had St. Olaf's first shot in the 12th minute from the top of the box, but a charging Anthony Pinto made the stop.
- In the 17th minute, Washington had two good chances to take the lead, but could not score.  Tyler Davidson's shot from about 12 yards out was stopped by Forseth and the rebound went to Malone.  From six yards out, Malone's shot rang off the crossbar and the Oles were able to clear. 
- St. Olaf broke through at the 20:06 mark when McCloskey got the rebound of a blocked Victor Gaulmin shot and his shot from about 20 yards out on the left side went in off the right post to give the Oles a 1-0 lead.
- After a turnover, the Oles' Clemente Arcuch Puig had a shot from 15 yards out, but sailed it over the goal for a goal kick.
- Shea Bechtel of St. Olaf had the last shot of the first half for either side with 5:56 to go, but missed it wide right.
- The Shoremen opened the second half with the majority of the possession and would level the game at 1-1 with 35:43 to go in the half after a failed clearing attempt by the Oles, the ball landed on Ben Strine's foot and his shot from the right side of the box from 15 yards out found the back of the net to tie it.
- In the 71st minute, St. Olaf's Ryan Bechtel rang a shot from the top of the box on the right side off the crossbar just missing put the Oles ahead with 19:43 to go.
- Less than two minutes later though, the Oles would go ahead for good when Ryan Bechtel's cross from the right side found McCloskey on the left side and his shot from about 12 yards out found the upper center part of the net to give St. Olaf a 2-1 edge.
- Washington got a team save at the 78:03 mark by Sebastien Linares off of a shot by Vance Liam before McCloskey got the loose ball and passed it to Jordan Oberholtzer.  Oberholtzer's pass found Michael Nelson near the penalty spot and he put it into the lower middle of the goal to give the Oles a two-goal lead at 3-1.
- The Shoremen had two shots the rest of the way to try to come back.  Alex Coster's shot from about 12 yards out went wide left with 5:20 to go and Katim Njie had the final chance to trim the deficit off of a free kick with 3:16 to go, but his header was saved by Forseth.

For The #18 Shoremen (14-3-6)
- Scoring: Strine (goal)
- Goalkeeper: Anthony Pinto (2 saves, 3 goals allowed, 90:00)
- Team save for the Washington College.
- Washington had 11 shots and took three corner kicks in the game.

For #11 St. Olaf (19-3-3)
- Scoring: McCloskey (two goals and assist), Nelson (goal), Ryan Bechtel (assist), Oberholtzer (assist)
- Goalkeeper: Forseth (5 saves, 1 goal allowed, 90:00)
- The Oles took 16 shots in the contest and had three corners of their own.

Notes
- Washington, in its third NCAA Tournament, made its deepest run ever in the NCAA Tournament.  The Shoremen lost in the opening round in overtime in 1973 to the University of Baltimore, 3-1.  In 2021, the squad reached the Sweet 16 before falling in golden goal to Tufts, 2-1, after posting a pair of 2-0 wins over St. Lawrence and Montclair St.
- Washington was the third Centennial squad to make the Final Four in men's soccer joining the 1994 Johns Hopkins and 1995 Muhlenberg teams.
- The Shoremen had their 15-game road/neutral game streak snapped with today's loss.  WC went 11-0-4 during the run that started following a 1-0 loss at TCNJ on October 4, 2022.
- Today was the first time that Shoremen Soccer played a game in December.
- The 14 wins this season are one off the program record.  The 2021 team won 15 contests.
- Since 2021, the Shoremen have gone 36-13-13 in 62 overall games.
- Eight seniors represented the Shoremen for the final time today – Coster, Malone, Strine, Chris Comber, Max Greenfeld, Cole Gifford, Ben Horgan and Jackson Sopa.  The eight were part of three Centennial Conference Tournament teams, two NCAA Tournament squads and the 2021 Centennial Conference title team.
- Comber and Malone were named to the All-Tournament Team.