The Oglethorpe men's soccer team picked up on Sunday where they left off Friday, defeating the visiting Birmingham-Southern Panthers 3-0 at the Oglethorpe Track and Field to improve to 11-2-1 overall and 5-0-1 in SAA play. The victory, combined with their 8-1 thrashing of Millsaps on Friday night, moved the Petrels to within a point of clinching at least a share of their third consecutive SAA regular season title.

Just like on Friday night, Oglethorpe jumped all over their opponents early, grabbing a 1-0 lead within the opening five minutes. Sophomore midfielder Andrew Grodhaus played a long ball down the right sideline to sophomore forward Gabriel Alvarez, who went straight in on goal and put his shot past Birmingham-Southern goalkeeper Galen Curry, giving the Petrels a 1-0 lead in the third minute. 

The home team continued to pour on the pressure, as they outshot the visiting Panthers 18-1 over the opening half of play, including an 8-1 mark in shots on goal. They doubled their advantage in the 27th minute. After getting fouled about 30 yards from goal, the Petrels quickly restarted play and got the ball to junior midfielder Jon Guy on the left side of the box. He sent a low cross to the far post, where sophomore forward Tyler Castor knocked it home to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

The pace of play slowed a bit early in the second half, as a popup rain shower affected the proceedings over the first 20 minutes of the period, but the Petrels continued to pressure the Panther goal, firing nine shots and putting five of them on target over the final 45 minutes. The Panthers were still in the game, though, down by just two goals into the final 15 minutes. The Petrels ended that in the 77th, however, as junior midfielder Topher Marshall played a perfect free kick to the far post, where sophomore forward Bentley Skinner ran onto it and knocked it home, putting the game on ice for Oglethorpe.

Overall, the Petrels outshot Birmingham-Southern 27-2, including a 13-2 mark in shots on goal. They also took eight corner kicks to three for Birmingham-Southern. Senior goalkeeper Luke Whelan picked up his fourth shutout and his ninth win of the season, recording a pair of saves in the process.

"I think we did what we needed to do today," said Oglethorpe head coach Jon Akin. "We put pressure on Birmingham-Southern and scored a couple goals early. We had them under pressure the whole time, outshooting them 27-2. I thought we could've been sharper, but overall, I was pleased with the win. It's great to get six points on the weekend, we're very close to clinching our third straight SAA title, so we're focused on that during this upcoming week. We've also got a massive midweek match against Emory this week, which has some potential NCAA ramifications, so we have a big week ahead of us."

The Stormy Petrels sit on 16 points through six games after Sunday's win, while Sewanee holds second place with 12 points through six games and Centre is in third with 11 through five games. With only one game left on their schedule, Sewanee is eliminated from contention for the SAA regular season crown, but Centre, with two games left, is still in the running. The Petrels can clinch at least a share of the title with a draw against Berry on Friday, and will clinch it outright with a win or anything less than two wins from Centre over their final two games at Birmingham-Southern and home against Sewanee.

The Petrels will host No. 23 Emory at 7 p.m. Wednesday on the Oglethorpe Track and Field, then will get ready for their final conference game against Berry Friday at 7 p.m.