CSR (Women's Soccer Wins High-Scoring Affair With Cornerstone)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR SEPTEMBER 4, 2007

Women’s Soccer Wins Beltline Showdown With Cornerstone

CALVIN 5, CORNERSTONE 3
(written by Bruce VanBaren)

If Calvin head women’s soccer coach Mark Recker was looking for someone to fill
the void of a combined 77 points lost to the graduation of stars Jill Capel and
Sarah Weesies, he can start at the right foot of junior back Ashley Bolen
(Urbana, IL/ Urbana). Bolen fed two perfectly placed corner kicks to the heads
of freshman Carly Prins (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) and sophomore Emily
Ottenhoff (Palos Heights, IL/ Chicago Christian) and later deposited a free
kick in the upper ninety to complete a four point day with two assists and a
goal as the Knights topped Cornerstone University 5-3 at Cornerstone.

“I knew with our talent that it was a matter of time,” Recker said of the
team’s two corner kick goals. “It’s going to be a much larger part [of our
offense] than it has been in previous years. We currently have a combination
of both the deliverer and the people able to manage the ball. Today just
confirms that that is something that we have the capacity to do each game.”

Another key to Calvin’s win over Cornerstone was junior Elizabeth Ribbens
(Tinley Park/ Victor J. Andrew) who streaked down the right sidelines to score
two goals including the go ahead goal in the 64th minute to put the Knights in
front 3-2, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“Elizabeth has to be the upper classman she is in a number of ways,” Recker
said. “Some times with her speed and tenacity and sometimes with the ball
possession skill that she has. She is the threat to defenses. She stretches
defenses with her talent. That’s what you get from upperclassman.”

Bolen’s corner kick assists in the 29th and 31st minutes to Prins and Ottenhoff
opened up the scoring giving Calvin a 2-0 lead at the half. For Prins, it was
her third goal of the season which leads the team.

Cornerstone tied up the game with back to back goals in the 53rd and 57th
minutes. Sophomore Jessica Brussee shook a Calvin defender and dropped a shot
over keeper Alyssa Bergsma (Walker/ Calvin Christian) for the first goal and
junior Jaren Soule beat Bergsma to a loose ball off a rebound shot to even the
score.

Ribben’s two unassisted goals sandwiched Bolen’s beautiful free kick to give
the Knights a commanding 5-2 lead. Brussee again shook the Calvin defense to
notch her second goal of the game with just under three minutes remaining.

With games this weekend at defending National Champion Wheaton College (IL) and
a strong University of Chicago team, Recker still sees room for improvement on
the defensive end.

“As a whole our defense played very pensive today,” he said. “ There were
times when we should have applied pressure on the ball we were giving way too
much space. If you apply pressure you force players to make mistakes. [With
both Brussee goals], they were beautiful shots, but free without any immediate
pressure.”

The Knights out shot Cornerstone 24-10 and landed eight corner kicks while
giving up none. Bergsma finished with three saves and Cornerstones Krystyn
Dyke recorded nine.

Calvin dropped to 23rd in the most recent NCAA III National Poll and moves to
2-1-0 on the young season. Calvin will face University of Chicago on Friday at
4:00 (CST) and number one Wheaton College on Saturday at 3:00 (CST).
Saturday’s game will be broadcast by Wheaton College and listened to at
calvin.edu/sports.

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Tue Sep 4 20:57:57 2007