By Mathew Starner

Sitting at fifth place in the MIAC, women’s soccer was in a must-win scenario against St. Olaf on Oct. 15 if they were going to make the four-team MIAC playoffs. The Scots responded by putting together their season’s most impressive performance, moving into a tie for fourth in the MIAC after their 2-0 win over the Olies.”Right from the warm-up in that St. Olaf game, everyone was on,” said forward Maggie Molter ’14. “The first ten minutes we came out, St. Olaf didn’t even know what happened. I don’t think they were expecting for us to come out that hard. It’s definitely the best we’ve come out all season.”

Forward Emily Bardwell ’11 put up the first goal against St. Olaf, putting her at 25 scores for her career. Molter added the second to give the Scots their 2-0 win, two nights after she scored the game winner in the Scots’ 1-0 win against Gustavus Adolphus on Oct. 13. After the St. Olaf match, Molter was named MIAC player of the week. Still, Molter attributes her success to her teammates.

“I get the credit, but all the scores I’ve gotten, I’ve gotten great balls from midfielders and obviously that starts from the defense,” she said. “We’ve just done a better job combining as a group and shifting the attack to different areas of the field.”

Molter has been able to make an immediate impact, receiving the honor after only three starts and six games total in her first year.

“When we recruited her, we knew she was a good player,” head coach Kate Reiling said. “Maggie has continued to impress us in many ways and in her fast development in the program.”

Molter is one of several first years who have put up numbers for the Scots this year, including forward Izzi Speer ’14, who tallied a goal and assist in the team’s recent 2-0 win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Oct. 19th’s Kick Cancer night, boosting the team a 10-5 overall record.

Increased first year play is due to injuries to players like defenders Erica DeJong ’13, Hannah Boston ’13 and Jenna Machado ’12. But it has helped reveal the strength of the team’s bench.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries this year, so it’s been difficult, but also we’ve really been able to see the depth of our rosters,” forward Georgia Cloepfil ’14 said. “When people come back, we’ve been more fluid in our subs.”

The experience of the first years along with a large senior class gives optimism for the team’s immediate and distant futures.

“It’s really exciting in terms of we’ve got great opportunities this year because of our big senior class,” Reiling said. “And in the future of the program we have a very strong sophomore and freshmen class.”

Tied for fourth, the Scots are fighting for one of the four seeds in the MIAC playoffs. Two of their last three games are against St. Thomas and St. Benedict, who sit at third and tied for fourth in the MIAC respectively. Each team is in the same position as the Scots of having must-win games for the rest of the season. St. Thomas will visit Macalester Sunday at 7:30 to defend their No. 3 seed which the Scots hope to take over.

“We consider ourselves in the early phases of what hopefully will be a long playoff run,” Reiling said. “I don’t think that the rivalry between Macalester and St Thomas could be understated in any way.