CSR (Men's Soccer Picks up Draw at Hope/Volleyball's MIAA Win Streak Snapped at Hope)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 17, 2007

Men's Soccer Picks Up Overtime Draw at Hope;
Volleyball's MIAA Win Streak Snapped at Hope

MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 2, Hope 2 (OT)
(written by Bruce VanBaren '09)

HOLLAND -- In Calvin’s first meeting with Hope this season, Scott Hooker
(Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) fed Luke Holtrop (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian)
to lead the Knights past the Dutchmen and into first place. This afternoon,
Michael Holwerda (Grand Rapids/ Grand Rapids Christian) fed both Hooker and
Holtrop, but their goals weren’t enough for the win as the Knights tied Hope
2-2 in two overtimes at the Buys Athletic Complex.

“It is always so difficult to play here so to come out of today's game with a
tie is a big positive for us,” Coach Chris Hughes said. “It keeps us in first
place and gives us at least a four-point lead over everyone else in the league.”

The Knights now lead second place Kalamazoo by that margin as the Hornets were
the only one of the three teams tied for second to win this afternoon. Albion
tied Adrian and remains tied with Hope for third place six points behind the
Knights.

Calvin got on the board first as Holwerda put a through ball right to the feet
of Hooker who beat charging Hope goal keeper Michael Amerman for his fourth
goal of the season, putting Calvin up 1-0 in the 24th minute.

With the Knights protecting a 1-0 lead, Dan VanSlyke (Grove City, PA/ Trinity
Christian) saved Calvin’s lead three times as three Hope corner kick attacks
would have found the back of the net had VanSlyke not been guarding the far
post.

“VanSlyke had a hat-trick defensively on the post in the first half,” Hughes
said. “He really stepped up and made a big difference in today's game with his
defensive intensity and hustle."

Despite VanSlyke’s three blocks, Hope was still able to even the score in the
first half as Kevin Bartosek fired a shot from outside the box that took a
nasty bounce over the outstretched arms of Calvin goalkeeper Darrin Cline
(Grandville/ Grandville). It was only the third goal that Cline had allowed in
the MIAA this season and snapped a scoreless streak of over 700 minutes by the
Calvin defense.

Calvin struck first in the second half as well. In the 62nd minute, Holtrop
flicked a Holwerda through ball over the keeper to give Calvin a 2-1 lead. It
was Holtrop’s third goal of the season and Holwerda’s team high fifth assist.
Holwerda leads Calvin’s league best offense with 16 points.

"Our strikers did some very good things today, particularly in the final 10
minutes of regulation and in overtime,” Hughes said. “We had several strong
scoring chances and I liked what I saw from my strikers this afternoon."

The Knight defense was able to keep last year’s league MVP and All-American Dan
Tresslar in check most of the game, but in the 76th minute Tresslar maneuvered
through the Calvin defense for an open shot. The shot deflected of the cross
bar, but to the foot of Kevin McMahon who evened the score at 2-2.

Calvin had two near game winners drift just wide of the net in two overtime
periods, but held Hope to preserve the 2-2 tie. The Knights needed only the
single point from a tie to preserve their cushion in the league standings, but
Hughes said Calvin wasn’t thinking like that.

“We were playing for the win,” Hughes said. “I wasn’t going to tell them to
pack it in [defensively].”

Hope outshot the Knights 23-15 and held a 10-8 corner kick advantage, but no
team really held an advantage in time of possession.

"It was a typical Calvin-Hope game,” Hughes said. “Very physical and
counterattack after counterattack. Both of our goals came on counterattacks and
I was proud of the way our guys kept attacking the goal. Hope has a very good
team and they played us tough today which was no surprise. We knew they would
give us their best shot."

It was the first time this season that the Calvin defense and Cline, who was
ranked 10th nationally with a 0.37 goals against aversingle goal in a league game, despite the fact that the defense is made up of
two freshman and two sophomores.

"Our kids really battled on defense and didn't back down,” Hughes said. “They
came through nicely and stood strong."

Calvin will host Olivet on Saturday at 2p.m. and immediately after the game
Hughes was already looking ahead.

“We have to focus on our next game and put this one in the rearview mirror. Our
next game will be the biggest game of the season and it will remain that way
through the end of the year."

OTHER MIAA MEN'S SOCCER SCORES ON WEDNESDAY

Kalamazoo 2, Olivet 1
Alma 2, Tri-State 0
Albion 2, Adrian 2 (OT)

MIAA MEN'S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 10-17-07 GAMES

Calvin 7-1-1 (22 points)
Kalamazoo 6-3-0 (18 points)
Albion 5-3-1 (16 points)
Hope 5-3-1 (16 points)
Adrian 3-5-1 (10 points)
Alma 3-5-1 (10 points)
Olivet 3-6-0 (9 points)
Tri-State 1-7-1 (4 points)

VOLLEYBALL
Hope 3, Calvin 1 (18-30, 30-26, 30-20, 30-27)

HOLLAND -- Calvin's MIAA regular season win streak of 34 consecutive matches
came to an end on Wednesday night as the Knights suffered an 18-30, 30-26,
30-20, 30-27 defeat at rival Hope in front of 1,801 fans at Hope's DeVos
Fieldhouse. Ranked 16th in the latest Division III Top-25 poll, Calvin (21-4
overall) remains in sole possession of first place in the MIAA standings with a
12-1 conference mark. Hope (16-8 overall) is just one loss behind in the league
standings at 10-2 in conference play. Calvin has three MIAA regular season
matches slated for next week at the Calvin Fieldhouse as the Knights will host
Saint Mary's, Albion and Kalamazoo.

Calvin rolled in the opening game of Wednesday's match, keeping Hope on its
heels early on. The tide began to change in game two however as Hope scored the
final four points of the game to break what had been a 26-26 tie. From that
point on, Calvin was back on its heels with Hope rolling in game three 30-20.

In game four, Calvin trailed 18-14 but clawed back to take a 22-20 lead. Hope
responded with a 5-1 run to take a 25-23 lead and then went up 27-25. Calvin
scored back-to-back points, using a kill up front by senior Molly Krikke
(Greenwich, OH) and a net violation by the Flying Dutch to tie the score but
Hope came back with the final three points to seal the win.

Calvin was led in defeat by senior Kristen Kalb (Stow, OH) who tallied 19 kills
and 17 digs while Krikke had 16 kills and three service aces. Senior setter
Katie Zondervan (Lakewood, CA) added 47 assists with junior Lauren DeGroot
(Tulare, CA) collecting 32 digs, one shy of a season high.

Hope hit .292 as a team while limiting Calvin to a .126 hitting percentage.
Hope's defense was superb as the Flying Dutch amassed 101 digs with four
individuals collecting double-digits in digs. Hope also collected 21 blocks up
front.

Calvin returns to action next Tuesday when it hosts Saint Mary's at 6:30 p.m.
at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

MIAA VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 10-17-07

Calvin 12-1
Hope 10-2
Adrian 9-4
Tri-State 9-5
Albion 5-7
Saint Mary's 5-7
Kalamazoo 4-8
Alma 2-11
Olivet 2-13

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Wed Oct 17 23:07:36 2007