Joe Wertz ’05 converted a penalty to give Macalester a golden-goal victory in overtime against Luther on Wednesday night, capping a successful week for both men’s and women’s teams.

Stefan Dourge ’06 scored for the Macalester men within the first two minutes, but Luther equalized just three minutes later. The match remained scoreless for the rest of regulation time with both teams getting their fair share of chances. A Macalester goal was called an offside and disallowed. In the fifth minute of overtime, midfielder Magnuss Oppenheimer ’07 was brought down in the box, and Macalester was granted a penalty shot. Wertz fired it into the top left corner of the net to score his team-leading fifth goal, and seal the match.

On Saturday, Eric Nordstrom ’05 scored his first goal of the season in a 1-0 home win over rival St. Thomas. The Scots’ keeper Tyler Morken-Simmers ’04 was frequently challenged and came up with some big saves to maintain Macalester’s perfect conference record.

Macalester had a scare less than three minutes from halftime when the Tommies’ Adam Harding’s free kick hit the crossbar. In the 73rd minute, Morken-Simmers staved off a flurry of shots at the goal to maintain Macalester’s lead.

In all, three yellow cards were handed out in what was generally a tense match. Last year, St. Thomas held the Scots to a goalless draw.

Meanwhile, the women’s team had three non-conference home wins against Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Grinnell and Luther.

The Scots beat Luther on Wednesday after two first-half goals by Annie Borton ’07 and Erin Hoople ’05. Borton had an excellent game, scoring from 10 yards out in the 18th minute. Defender Hoople took advantage of a defensive blunder to add the second goal less than 10 minutes later.

Macalester’s ability to convert corner kicks was demonstrated on Sunday against Grinnell, as Alice Hacker’05 headed in goals in the 17th and 69th minutes. Olof Petursdottir ’07 netted the second goal three minutes from halftime.

In similar fashion to her goal against St. Mary’s last Tuesday, Katie Pastorius ’06 scored directly off of a corner kick during last Friday’s match with UW-Eau Claire. Sarah Marsh ’05 added a second goal in the 54th minute to seal the victory. Louisa Bigelow ’06 replaced injured All-American ’keeper Lisa Bauer ’04 to record her first shutout. It was the first time in four seasons that Bauer did not start.

The victories brought Macalester’s overall record to 6-0-1. The Scots’ remain 16th in the latest Division III national rankings.