CSR (Women's soccer advances in NCAA's)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH, 2006 (Part One)

WOMEN’S SOCCER

GRAND RAPIDS*The Calvin women’s soccer team advanced to regional’s of the NCAA III Tournament with a 1-0 victory over Kenyon College in a second-round match-up Saturday at the Marvin A. Zuidema field. Calvin improved to 21-0-0 on the season and Kenyon finished 14-6 overall.

Calvin struggled in the first half with Kenyon’s midfield defense frustrating the Knights MIAA MVP Jill Capel (Hudsonville, MI) and other star forwards. Our execution wasn’t there in the first half,” said head coach Mark Recker, “we were behind on plays and couldn’t make anything happen.” Neither team had many chances in the first half as a shot by Capel went wide of the left post on a re-direction with about seven minutes left in the half.

The second half was controlled by Calvin in ball possession as the Knights were able to sustain pressure on Kenyon’s half of the field for numerous stretches of time. Calvin broke through on a goal by senior Sarah Weesies (Kalamazoo, MI) in the 58th minute to take a lead they would never relinquish. Weesies got around the defense on her own after getting a feed from freshman midfielder Emily Ottenhof (Palos Heights, IL) down the left sideline and buried a shot past the keeper inside the far post. It was Weesies’ 12th goal of the season and the third assist for Ottenhof.

“I just told Weesies that it was her turn, as a senior, to show she was a quality player,” said Recker. “Tournament time is when I want seniors to step up and Sarah did just that in this game.”

Calvin’s defense limited Kenyon to just one shot on goal all game and shut down Kenyon’s offensive attack led by Amy Kessler and Amanda Drummond. Defensive backs senior Tricia DeVries (Grand Rapids, MI) and sophomores Juliana Litts (Alexandria, VA) and Ashley Bolen (Urbana, IL) shut down Kenyon over the last 20 minutes of the game to preserve the shut-out. Freshmen keepers Alyssa Bergsma (Walker, MI) and Kayla Sulzer (St. Charles, MO) played the first and second halves respectively for Calvin, gaining the Knights 16th shut-out of the season.

“Ashley Bolen is key to our defense,” said Recker. “She allows the wings to to do things they otherwise might not be able to do. I’ve been exceedingly please with our defense all season and this game was no different.”

Both teams had to deal with poor field conditions as rain soaked Grand Rapids Friday night and a bitter cold front moved in. “The field was slick, loose, and hard to deal with at times,” said Recker. “It took a while to adjust to those kinds of conditions and slowed us down a bit.”

Calvin advances to the regional semi-finals where they will face a yet to be determined opponent at a yet to be determined location on Friday, November 17th. Check the NCCAsports.com website later in the evening for updates on next weeks match-ups.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Nov 11 15:48:28 2006