CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOV. 9, 2007 (PART TWO)
Women's Soccer Advances In NCAA III Tournament Via PK Shootout Win Over
Capital;
Men's Soccer Drops Heartbreaker to John Carroll in NCAAs;
Volleyball Falls in NCAAs To Sixth-Ranked Carthage
WOMEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 0, Capital 0
(Calvin wins penalty kick shootout 5-3)
SPRINGFIELD, OH -- Over the past few years, penalty kick shootouts have been
unkind to the Calvin women's soccer team. On Friday night in a first round NCAA
III Tournament match against Capital University, Calvin turned the tables,
defeating the Crusaders 5-3 in a penalty kick shootout in a game that will
officially go in the books as a 0-0 double-overtime tie.
With the win, Calvin advances to a second round game Saturday night to face
12th-ranked Wittenberg (18-2-2) which is hosting the weekend regional.
Wittenberg advanced to Saturday’s regional final with a 4-0 first round
victory over Penn State-Behrend.
After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, Calvin (15-3-3) and Capital (14-5-2)
went to a penalty kick shootout. Heading into Friday's match, Calvin had gone
winless in its three prior shootouts including a 3-2 shootout loss last
Saturday in the MIAA Tournament Championship game. Calvin also bowed out of the
2005 NCAA III Tournament with a first round shootout loss and out of the 2006
national quarterfinals with a shootout loss as well.
In Friday's shootout win over the Crusaders, Calvin went a perfect 5-for-5 in
the shootout with sophomore Emily Ottenhoff, senior Leah Scholten, junior
Ashley Bolen, junior Juliana Litts and freshman Carly Prins all converting for
the Knights in the win. Sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Bergsma (Calvin Christian
HS) came up with a save on Capital's first penalty kick attempt to give the
Knights an early edge in the shootout. With her team holding a 4-3 lead, Prins
(Unity Christian HS) sealed the win with a rocket to the upper right shelf of
the goal.
"Even though we have not had success in shootouts before tonight, I was
confident that our team would do well," said Calvin women's soccer coach Mark
Recker. "It was never a matter of ability with our team in performing in a
shootout. It was a matter of confidence and determination and I was just
waiting for our team to really nail it and they did tonight."
Dropping a penalty kick shootout six days prior against Albion was an
advantage said Recker. "First of all, the experience was recent and our players
knew what to expect," said Recker. "They also did not win that shootout and I
know that made them that much more determined to win the shootout this time."
With only one senior on its roster, Calvin is making its third straight
appearance in the NCAA III Tournament. Saturday's second round match is
scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. at Wittenberg.
MEN’S SOCCER
(written by Bruce VanBaren ’09)
John Carroll 1, Calvin 0
DELAWARE, OH -- The Knights’ inability to finish had been absent over their
last thirteen games when Calvin had outscored opponents 43-8 and was
undefeated. The last sign of it was in Calvin’s conference opener, nearly two
months ago, when the Knights outshot Kalamazoo 19-1, but fell 1-0 to the
Hornets.
In Friday night’s first round NCAA tournament game, it was back. Calvin out
shot John Carroll 29-9, held a 13-3 shots on goal advantage, and totaled 13
corner kicks, but fell 1-0 to the Blue Streaks in a game played at Ohio
Wesleyan University.
The lone goal came in the 65th minute when Alex Bernot assisted Scott McKinney
on a free kick from the corner. Bernot led the Blue Streaks with 12 goals and
picked up his team high 14th assist on the play. McKinney, who was John
Carroll’s other go-to player, picked up his ninth goal of the year on the set
piece.
The goal came after the Knights held possession from almost the start of the
second half. Calvin had several chances early, but simply could not finish. The
corner kick was set up after a quick counter attack. Calvin seemed caught off
guard after not having to defend most of the second half. McKinney, one of the
smaller players on the John Carroll roster at 5-10, elevated just enough to put
a head on the perfectly placed ball. The goal came on John Carroll’s first
shot of the second half.
The quick counter attack goal sucked the wind out of the sails of the Knight
offense that had been pounding shot after shot at John Carroll goal keeper Matt
DeMarchi. It didn’t take long, however, for Calvin to re-establish that
offensive momentum as the Knights again flooded the Blue Streak net with
shots.
After the goal, Calvin added an extra midfielder in Jeff Grater (Stow, OH/
Stow Munroe Falls) who replaced defensive stopper Luke Holtrop (Unity
Christian/ Hudsonville). John Carroll countered, however, and packed it in
defensively over the final 15 minutes of play.
Still, the Knights had several opportunities for the equalizer over the final
ten minutes. Michael Holwerda (Grand Rapids/ Grand Rapids Christian) had a ball
deflected to him inside the box, but missed a left footed shot just wide right.
Calvin had six corner kicks in the second half, but a tall John Carroll
defense, anchored by 6-4 Steve Rock, limited the Knights scoring chances on its
corner kicks. Calvin’s best scoring chance came with under five minutes to
play, when the cross came to an open player on the far side. The shot, however,
floated across the open net and was cleared out by a John Carroll defender just
before it would have landed in the goal. It was one of three team saves the
Blue Streaks had in the game.
But DeMarchi was outstanding as well picking up ten saves of his own and
seeing shot after shot poured onto his net in the second half. In all Calvin
out shot the Blue Streaks 20-3 in the second half, but were unable to find the
net.
The shutout loss snaps the Knights undefeated streak and ends the scoring
streak it has possessed since the loss to Kalamazoo. It also ends Calvin’s
season with a 14-5-2 record. Calvin was making its seventh NCAA tournament
appearance, including its second at Ohio Wesleyan in three years. In 2005,
Calvin beat the Battling Bishops 2-1 to advance to the sectional semi-finals.
Calvin is now 5-6-1 all-time in the NCAA tournament. The matchup with John
Carroll was the first ever between the two schools in the NCAA tournament.
John Carroll advances to play the winner of Ohio Wesleyan- Transylvania
tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Ohio Wesleyan. The loss comes on the heels of a record
five Knights being named to the All-MIAA first team and two named to the
All-MIAA second team. Calvin captured the MIAA Championship with an 11-1-1
record in conference and had the league’s best offense and defense, scoring
43 goals and giving up only nine.
The loss also marks the final game for seniors Jared Litty (Hudsonville/
Hudsonville), Nick Capisciolto (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) and Dave Fortosis
(West Chicago, IL/ Wheaton Academy). A midfielder, Litty scored eight goals and
three assists to finish fourth on the team in total points. A year ago, Litty
was one of only three players to start all 20 games and led the Knights with
six goals and three assists for a team high 15 points. In 2005, Litty came off
the bench to lead Calvin with 14 goals. In 2004, as a freshman, Litty played in
all but one game and scored a goal and tallied three assists.
Also a midfielder, Capisciolto was second on the team in points this season as
one of three players with a team high nine goals while also adding six assists
for 24 points. He has also started all but five games over the course of his
career. In 2005, he led Calvin’s Sweet 16 team with seventeen assists and
also added nine goals. In 2004,
Capisciolto tallied four goals and three assists and in 2003, as a freshman,
picked up eight goals and four assists.
A goal keeper, Fortosis started the season before being injured against
Wheaton in just the fourth game of the season. He finished the season with 1.63
goals against average and a 2-0-1 record. Fortosis spent his first two years on
the jayvee team and a year ago average 0.64 goals against, allowed only seven
goals in 12 appearances and finished the year with a 6-1-2 record.
VOLLEYBALL
(Written by Annalise Venhuizen '08)
Carthage 3, Calvin 0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-7)
KENOSHA, WI -- As host of an eight-team NCAA Division III Regional and as the
highest-ranked team in that regional, Carthage College (33-4) proved itself
worthy of its No. 6 national ranking by defeating 15th-ranked Calvin in the
Second Round on Friday evening. Though Calvin held strong in game one, once
Carthage took a substantial lead, the Knights were never able to regain their
momentum and fell in three games, 30-26, 30-23, 30-7, to end a season of many
accomplishments.
With Thursday's First Round win over Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Calvin hit the 30-win
plateau for the third straight season. This was Calvin's fourth NCAA Division
III Regional appearance in as many years. Calvin received the automatic bid to
NCAA tournament play by capturing the MIAA tournament title, also for the
fourth season in a row.
Keeping apace with and even leading Carthage in game one, Calvin tied the
score multiple times and was up by as many as six points at 21-15. "We came
out with a lot of confidence and played well early on," said head coach Amber
Warners. "We were strong and doing the things we wanted to do." Coming out of
their time-out, however, Carthage came back with a 6-0 run to tie the game at
22. Scoring was back-and-forth and tied again at 26, but two Carthage kills
followed by two Calvin unforced errors reliquished the game to Carthage 30-26.
Game two saw the Knights in an early 7-12 deficit, and though two kills and
one block by senior Molly Krikke (Greenwich, OH/South Central) narrowed the
margin to 14-15, Carthage established a 26-17 lead with a 10-3 scoring run.
Calvin then gained a bit of momentum and strung together five unanswered points
to come within four at 22-26, then battled two long points at 22-28 and 23-28,
but the run proved only to delay the Carthage 30-23 win.
Carthage began game three with a 12-3 lead and never looked back, allowing
only four more Calvin points in the match. Consecutive kills from junior
Jessica Garlick (Portage/Kalamazoo Christian) and Krikke gave the Knights
points 6 and 7, but Carthage then brought it home with a 10-0 run, winning
30-7.
Warners described the outcome as a testimony to the talents of the Carthage
team, which Calvin was unable to match in the end. "They did a lot of things
better than us throughout the match. They served better, they passed better,
and they blocked really well. I think we just ran up against a really good team
tonight and we couldn't match their play."
Calvin was led in defeat by senior Kristin Kalb (Stow, OH/Stow-Munroe Falls),
who had 10 kills and 8 digs in her final match. Also playing their final
collegiate matches were Krikke, who had 9 kills, and Katie Zondervan (Lakewood,
CA/Valley Christian) who had 25 assists and was ranked 2nd nationally in
assists-per-game. Junior libero Lauren DeGroot (Tulare, CA/Central Valley
Christian) had 19 digs.
Carthage's Jori Simmons had 10 kills with a hitting percentage of .474, and
Katie Lundgren had 24 digs. The defense amassed 66 digs and 12 blocks to
Calvin's 52 digs and 4 blocks.
In addition to seniors Krikke, Kalb, and Zondervan, the game was the last for
senior defensive specialist Sarah Ernst (Fort Wayne, IN) who also saw playing
time this evening. "I am sad to see them go, but I'm so thankful that we could
spend four great years together," said Warners. "They had amazing four-year
careers and were incredible together over the past two years especially. I am
excited to see what they do now; they are four wonderful people to have
coached."
Jeff Febus
Sports Information Director
Calvin College
(616) 526-6169 Office
(616) 526-8551 Fax
Received on Fri Nov 9 23:18:28 2007
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