Christoffel's hat trick leads Oles past Grinnell, 7-1, in opener

Mike Ludwig
September 1, 2009

GRINNELL, Iowa - Catie Christoffel had three goals to lead the St. Olaf women's soccer team to a 7-1 win over host Grinnell College in the season opener for both teams on Tuesday evening.

The Oles (1-0-0, 0-0-0 MIAC) had tallies from three others - Lindsay Howard, Ellie Steiner, Hannah Rosenthal - and benefited from a Grinnell deflection into its own goal.

St. Olaf led 3-0 after Rosenthal's goal in the 43rd minute, but Grinnell cut the advantage to two on a goal from Miki Nakamura just over a minute later.

The Oles, who outshot Grinnell 24-3, then opened the second half with two scores in the first 10-plus minutes - from Steiner and Christoffel - to make it 5-1.

Christoffel's three-goal effort was the second of her career. She had three goals and two assists in a 6-3 win at Hamline on Oct. 25 last season.

St. Olaf opens its home schedule on Friday with a game against Whitworth College at 4 p.m.

Contact media relations specialist Mike Ludwig at (507) 786-3834 or ludwigm@stolaf.edu.