CSR (Calvin Saturday Sports Report for October 17, 2009)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 17, 2009

WOMEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 1, Adrian 0

By Sports Information Student Assistant Andrew Knot

ADRIAN—With the outright conference lead on the line, and their conference
winning streak broken, the Knights had a lot to prove in Saturday’s clash
with the Adrian Bulldogs. Calvin and Adrian each entered the game with a 4-1
record in conference play; Calvin had just dropped a 2-1 result to Alma early
in the week, their first conference loss in 40 games.

When all was said and done, Calvin came away with a 1-0 victory over the
Bulldogs and with it, sole possession of first place in the MIAA standings.

“We knew we had to compete for 90 minutes. I told the team before the game,
‘Whoever wants this game the most will succeed,’” said Coach Mark Recker.
The Knights did just that, grinding for the entire game and eventually blanking
the Bulldogs via some late game heroics.

Before the game, Recker told junior Mindy Capisciolto that this was her game
to make an impact on the soccer program; Capisciolto took that message to
heart, impacting the game on both ends of the field.

Calvin began the game dominating possession, holding the ball in the Adrian
half and pestering the Bulldog defense with shots and opportunities, but a
quick counterattack from Adrian kept the Knights on their toes.

Off of a Calvin corner, Lindsay Chitwood got free from the Calvin defense and
received a through ball with only goalkeeper Kayla Sulzer to beat. Chitwood
got clear of Sulzer and passed a ball towards what she thought was an empty
net. Suddenly, Mindy Capisciolto, who was marking Chitwood in the first place,
intercepted Chitwood’s shot and shattered Adrian’s hopes of an early goal.

“I knew it would have been my fault if they scored, so I was trying to get
back as fast as I could,” said Capisciolto.

From that point on, Calvin continued to control possession, and ended the half
with a 9-1 advantage in shots.

However, on a cold, windy day, the Knights now had to compete with the Adrian
attack and 20 mph gusts.
Adrian came out with some fire, fueled by the wind at their backs. After
creating some chances for themselves early, the Knights stifled the Bulldog
attack. But with each team anxiously looking to avoid a devastating mistake,
the momentum remained neutral, the score remained deadlocked at zero, and the
clock continued to count down.

As time dwindled, likelihood of a single, game-changing goal increased.

In the 77th minute, that goal happened. Thanks to some hustle from freshman
Liz Cancel, Calvin earned a throw-in in their own attacking third. Cancel
played the throw-in to Stephanie Malburg, who delivered a low cross into the
box. Capisciolto got on the receiving end of that cross and buried it into the
bottom right corner of the net.

“Steph gave me a perfect ball; it would have been hard to miss that. I kept
it low and got it past the goalie,” said Capisciolto.

With a single-goal lead, the Knights played keep-away for the remainder of the
game, stifling any hopes of an equalizer for the Bulldogs. Calvin wrapped up a
1-0 victory and furthered their lead in the MIAA.

“The team won this game. Each element of the team came through today, said
Coach Recker.

“Coming off of the loss to Alma, we were here to play. I’m glad we got
the result we wanted. We knew this was a big game, and we want to be in the
driver’s seat going into the final two weeks of the conference schedule,”
concluded Capisciolto.

The Knights close the regular season with Trine and rival Hope before entering
conference tournament play.

NOTES: Calvin is now 3-0 at Adrian’s Peformance Stadium, also winning 1-0 in
2006 and 2-0 in 2008….Saturday’s game featured a rematch of last year’s
MIAA Tournament semifinals, won by Calvin 4-0…Calvin entered the match ranked
sixth in the Central Region by the National Soccer Coaches Association of
America while Adrian came in ranked 10th…the first official NCAA III Central
Region poll is scheduled to be released next week…The 2009 MIAA season is
featuring a new conference format. In past years, the final MIAA champion was
based on a combination of placement points earned during the MIAA regular
season and MIAA Tournament. This year, the final MIAA champion is determined
solely on the finish of the MIAA regular season. The league’s automatic bid
to the NCAA III Tournament however will go to the winner of the MIAA
Tournament. In past years, the automatic bid was awarded to the final MIAA
champion (combo of regular season and league tournament). In addition, the 2009
MIAA Tournament will feature only six teams with the top two teams in the
regular season standings receiving first round byes, automatically advancing to
the MIAA Tournament semifinals November 3. First round games will feature the
#6 vs #3 seeds and #5 vs #4 seeds on October 31.

MIAA WOMEN’S SOCCER STANDINGS THROUGH 10-17-09

Calvin 5-1-0 (15 points)
Kalamazoo 4-1-1 (13 points)
Adrian 4-2-0 (12 points)
Alma 3-1-1 (10 points)
Albion 2-2-1 (7 points)
Hope 2-2-1 (7 points)
Saint Mary’s 1-4-0 (3 points)
Olivet 0-4-0 (0 points)
Trine 0-4-0 (0 points)

MEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 5, Alma 1

ALMA – Calvin bounced back from a disappointing overtime loss at Hope on
Tuesday with a 5-1 victory at Alma Saturday afternoon to retain a share of
first place in the MIAA standings.

Senior Alex McKenzie (Lindenhurst, IL/Antioch HS) led the way with his first
collegiate hat-trick while notching one assist to record a seven-point
afternoon.

Alma (1-11-2 overall, 0-8-0 MIAA) drew first blood with a goal just 50 seconds
into the match off the foot of Cameron Alman.

Calvin (11-2-1 overall, 6-1-0 MIAA) roared back with four goals over the next
25 minutes however with McKenzie scoring three of the four goals. McKenzie got
the Knights on the board in the 14th minute, heading in a free kick from junior
Dan Kmetz (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville HS). Two minutes later, Kmetz scored
off a corner kick play with junior Scott Hooker (Hudsonville/Unity Christian
HS) drawing an assist on the play. McKenzie then scored in the 18th minute and
again in the 25th minute, both times scoring off feeds from junior Brad
Heethuis (Jenison/Unity Christian HS), helping the Knights take a 4-1 halftime
lead.

In the second half, freshman Chris Nance (Washington/Warren De LaSalle HS)
scored with just 2:10 left on the clock with McKenzie drawing an assist.

Calvin outshot Alma 25-3. Freshman goalkeeper Michael Dolan (Casco/Marine City
HS) went the distance in nets for the Knights in his first collegiate start.

Calvin is back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Adrian at 4:00 p.m. at
Calvin’s Zuidema Field.

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

OSHKOSH, WI – The top-ranked Calvin women’s cross country took first place
at the UW-Oshkosh Brooks Invitational on Saturday with a team score of 80
points, finishing 13 points ahead of 10th-ranked Washington University of St.
Louis.

Running without top runner Jessica Koster, Calvin still managed to place five
runners in the top 25 led by senior Jesi Hale who was eighth in a time of 21:49
followed by senior Liz Smit in 12th (21:57).

Sophomore Jodi Hoekstra and senior Sarah Dugan also cracked the top 20 with
Hoekstra finishing 18th (22:08) and Dugan 19th (22:08). Rounding out Calvin’s
top seven were sophomore Rebecca Hiemstra in 23rd (22:14), senior Lauren
Bergstrom in 26th (22:18) and senior Gretchen Braymer in 28th (22:21).

Ayla Mitchell of host Wisconsin-Oshkosh took first place honors with a time of
20:29, finishing seven seconds ahead of Marie Borner of Bethel.

“We had a strong performance, particularly since we were running without
Jessica today,” said Calvin head cross country coach Brian Diemer. “We have
a lot of depth on this team and it really showed up in this race.”

On the men’s side, 16th-ranked Calvin had a strong showing, placing fourth
with a team score of 158 points, finishing ahead of 15th-ranked
Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Top-ranked North Central dominated the field with a first
place team score of 22 points followed by sixth-ranked UW-Stevens Point in
second (97 points) and ninth-ranked Augustana (IL) in third place (151
points).

Calvin’s top finisher was sophomore Nick Kramer in 16th place (24:53)
followed by senior Ben Van Wyk in 28th (25:09) and junior Alex Wrobel in 33rd
(25:15). Senior Aaron Goodman was next for the Knights in 39th place (25:21)
while senior George Visser was 42nd (25:23). Rounding out Calvin’s top seven
were freshman Matt Vander Roest in 59th (25:34) and junior Jake Christiansen in
66th (25:41).

Dan Greeno of Bethel took first place individually with a time of 24:15.

“The key for us in the men’s race was the performance of our seniors,”
said Diemer. “Ben Van Wyk did a great job of going out with Nick Kramer and
then hanging out at the end and George Visser ran his best race of the year. He
really solidifies our team when he runs the way he did today. I think our guys
have set themselves up well for the rest of the year.”

Both Calvin teams will now break until October 31 when they compete at the
MIAA Championships hosted by Adrian.

VOLLEYBALL

ELMHURST, IL – 11th-ranked Calvin posted a 3-1 record at the Elmhurst
Invitational this weekend, defeating Loras (IA) and Elmhurst on Friday before
splitting a pair of matches on Saturday with Calvin defeating Widener (PA) and
falling to North Central (IL).

Calvin is now 17-5 overall.

Calvin opened the tournament with a 25-12, 25-18, 25-19 victory over Loras.
Sophomore Rebecca Kamp (Palos Heights, IL/Chicago Christian HS) had 19 kills
while freshman Lizzie Kamp (Palos Heights, IL/Chicago Christian HS) had 11
kills. Senior Kelsey Sears (Traverse City/Traverse City West HS) had 17 digs
and senior setter Nora Bruskewitz (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran HS) 37
assists.

Calvin then defeated Elmhurst 25-20, 25-17, 10-25, 25-19. Rebecca Kamp and
Lizzie Kamp had 14 and 11 kills respectively while sophomores Renee DeHaan
(Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Erin Vander Plas (Cadillac/McBain
Christian HS) both had 10 kills. Sears had 24 digs while Bruskewitz had 47
assists.

On Saturday afternoon, Calvin opened with a 25-9, 25-11, 25-18 victory over
Widener. Sears and sophomore Kelly Peterson (Ramsey, MN/Anoka HS) had 15 and 10
digs respectively. Rebecca Kamp had 13 kills.

Calvin then suffered a 25-18, 25-20, 16-25, 25-22 defeat to a 26-3 North
Central team. Rebecca Kamp had 14 kills and Lizzie Kamp 10 kills. Bruskewitz
had 31 assists and seven block assists. Senoir Katie Corbett (St.
Joseph/Stevensville-Lakeshore HS) had 15 digs.

For her efforts over the course of the weekend, Rebecca Kamp was named to the
all-tournament team.

Calvin returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Trine University at 6:30
p.m. at the Van Noord Arena.
Received on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:20:25 -0400