CSR (Calvin Men's/Women's Soccer Teams Pick Up Conference Victories)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 20, 2007

Soccer Teams Pick Up Saturday Victories - Remain on Top of MIAA Standings

WOMEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 1, Kalamazoo 0 (2 OT)
(Written by Bruce VanBaren ’09)

KALAMAZOO -- Emily Ottenhoff's (Palos Heights, IL/ Chicago Christian) penalty
kick goal in the final minutes of the second overtime put Calvin past third
place Kalamazoo and clinched a first round seed and home field advantage in the
MIAA tournament. Both Hope and Adrian won Friday and remain tied for second
place five points behind the league leading 7-0-0 Knights.

"It is extremely important [to have home field advantage]," said junior
sweeper Ashley Bolen (Urbana, IL/ Urbana). "You have your fans cheering you on
and it's a more comfortable setting and easier to relax." Bolen anchors
Calvin's league best defense that has allowed only a single goal in conference
and with Saturday’s double overtime 1-0 win at Kalamazoo the defense picked
up its seventh shutout in the last eight games.

Calvin also leads the league with 29 goals scored, but the Knight offense came
out sluggish in the first half, in which neither Calvin nor Kalamazoo could
establish much of a rhythm.

"The field was much different than normal because it was so wet," said Bolen.
"But the first half was [also] frustrating because we didn't play together a
team, we had no intensity."

"Like coach put it at the half, we had no emotion," said junior Michelle Koele
(Dever, CO/ Denver Christian).

Calvin's offense started to look more like the league leading offense that it
is in the second half as the Knights out shot Kalamazoo 15-4 in the second
half, but again the Knights missed on numerous scoring chances. Calvin almost
won the game in the final seconds of regulation when Hornet goal keeper Monisha
Berkowski dove into the foot of Ottenhoff who received a pass just feet from
the goal mouth to send the game into sudden death overtime.

In the first minute of the first overtime, freshman Kellie Honderd
(Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) touched a ball around the outstretched arms of
sliding Kalamazoo goalkeeper Berkowski. Honderd, however, touched the ball off
the side netting despite the open goal.

In the final minutes of the second overtime, Honderd again touched a ball
around Berkowski, but this time Berkowski wasn't going to let Honderd get a
chance to redeem herself. Diving, Berkowski tripped Honderd from behind
setting up a penalty kick in the 107th minute.

After the outstanding goal keeper play for both sides all game, it wouldn't
have been a surprise to see Berkowski save the penalty kick as the game
appeared to be destined for a scoreless tie. In fact Berkowski recorded 10
saves in just one half and two overtimes. However, Ottenhoff tucked the shot
inside the left post off of the finger tips of Johnston to give Calvin a 1-0
win, its tenth straight and extending the team’s undefeated streak to eleven
games.

Calvin finished with a 31-11 shot advantage including a 15-6 shots on goal
advantage. Alyssa Bergsma (Walker/ Calvin Christian) and Kayla Sulzer (St.
Charles, MO/ Whitfield) each recorded three saves as they split time in goal,
Sulzer played the second half and both overtimes.

Calvin will travel to second place Albion on Wednesday for its MIAA regular
season finale and will host Olivet in a first round MIAA tournament game next
Saturday.

MIAA WOMEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 10-20-07

Calvin 7-0-0
Albion 5-1-1
Hope 5-2-1
Kalamazoo 4-2-1
Saint Mary’s 3-2-2
Alma 2-4-1
Adrian 2-6-0
Olivet 1-5-2
Tri-State 0-7-0

MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 6, Olivet 1
(written by Annalise Venhuizen '08)

GRAND RAPIDS -- As regular season play winds down, Calvin continues to move
up, recording a 6-1 conference victory over Olivet (5-11-0, 3-7-0 MIAA) this
afternoon. With the win, Calvin (10-4-2) remains in sole possession of first
place in the MIAA with an 8-1-1 league record.

Head coach Chris Hughes says the Knights' "offensive presence is on a roll,
building upon the success in the last several games. We are creating and
taking advantage of opportunities." The first fifteen minutes of the half
alone were enough to verify Calvin's offensive strategy, as Calvin scored three
goals within seven minutes.

In the sixth minute of play, freshman Scott Hooker (Hudsonville/Unity
Christian) found the feet of sophomore Michael Holwerda (Grand Rapids/Grand
Rapids Christian), who was advancing to the far post. Holwerda converted the
goal for his seventh of the season. Less than three minutes later, senior
Jared Litty (Hudsonville/Hudsonville) chalked up his fourth goal of the year
off of a penalty kick with a straight shot to the back of the net to put Calvin
up 2-0.

Hooker drilled in a goal of his own in the 13th minute, making good on a Luke
Holtrop (Hudsonville/Unity Christian) shot that deflected off of the keeper and
therefore counts as an assist.

The Olivet offense went on an early first-half offensive attempt itself as
sophomore Josh VanWagner scored off an assist by freshman Mike May at 17:37,
making the score 3-1.

Calvin upped the goal count to five in the first twenty minutes of play as
senior Nick Capisciolto (Hudsonville/Unity Christian) scored his fourth goal of
the season in the 18th minute. Capisciolto received a cross from Hooker in the
middle of the box and dribbled toward the far post to get an angle, which
caused the keeper to move and allowed Capisciolto a sure shot. The resulting
4-1 score remained at the half.

In the second half, Calvin continued the offensive surge and increased its
lead to five with two goals. The first was Hooker's second goal of the game,
Capisciolto returning the favor Hooker had given him with an assist off a free
kick. Hooker stood at the far post and flicked in the through-ball to make the
score 5-1.

Following suit, Holwerda made his second goal of the day, his team-leading
eighth of the season, ripping an unassisted ball from 20 yards out. Calvin
took the 6-1 victory.

Olivet keeper Ethan Felsing saw 16 shots on goal from the Knights and had 10
saves. Calvin keepers junior Darrin Cline (Grandville/Grandville) and senior
Dave Fortosis (West Chicago, IL/Wheaton) split the time in goal, each having
one save. After being out for the majority of the season recovering from a
head injury, Fortosis is "good to go," said Hughes. "We're excited about
getting him back in. It's wonderful to have two very strong keepers ready to
go, especially at this point in the season. Both of them did a great job
today."

"Cline's gotten better year by year; he's become aware of his weaknesses and
has pretty much eliminated all of them. But like the team, he's still growing
and hasn't peaked yet either," Hughes said.

Even with the success the team has experienced recently, there is room to
grow. "We need to be peaking and getting better every game. Now that we're in
the second half of the MIAA season, we've got a good read of the teams we've
played already. That means we need to anticipate and be smarter than the other
team," said Hughes.

The smart play of today's scoring leaders are further evidence of growth over
the course of the season. "Wow," said Hughes when asked to comment on the play
of Hooker and Holwerda, who combined for eight shots, four goals, and two
assists. "Hooker and Holwerda are really starting to read each other; I can see
them looking for each other, being patient, and picking and choosing their
shots."

Calvin's home stand continues for three more games as they host Alma next
Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. and will play Albion and Adrian at the Zuidema field on
October 27 and 31, respectively.

OTHER MIAA MEN’S SOCCER SCORES SATURDAY
Hope 3, Adrian 0
Albion 4, Tri-State 0
Kalamazoo 4, Alma 0

MIAA MEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 10-20-07

Calvin 8-1-1
Kalamazoo 7-3-0
Albion 6-3-1
Hope 6-3-1
Adrian 3-6-1
Alma 3-6-1
Olivet 3-7-0
Tri-State 1-8-1

Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Sat Oct 20 18:10:48 2007