CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 20, 2009
Men’s/Women’s Soccer Headed to NCAA III Quarterfinals;
Women’s Basketball Defeats Marian – Men’s Basketball Falls to Grace
Bible
MEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 2, Carnegie-Mellon 1
PITTSBURGH, PA – The Calvin men’s soccer team has advanced to the national
quarterfinals of the NCAA III Tournament. The Knights moved on in the NCAA III
Tournament with a 2-1 victory over host Carnegie-Mellon
late Friday night.
Calvin (17-4-2) will face Transylvania in Saturday’s national quarterfinal
at 7:00 p.m. (EST). Transylvania advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals by
winning a penalty kick shootout over Swarthmore Friday night.
The contest will mark Calvin’s second foray into the national quarterfinals
as the Knights also achieved the feat in 1980.
Calvin’s game against Carnegie-Mellon (16-3-1) featured late-game fireworks
in the way of goal scoring.
Calvin broke a scoreless tie with a goal by junior back Kyle Billin
(Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) with just over 15 minutes left in regulation.
The play began with a long throw-in by sophomore Tyler Vegter
(Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) that was flicked over to Billin by freshman
Chris Nance (Washington, MI/Warren DeLaSalle HS).
Calvin then took what appeared to be a commanding 2-0 lead on a goal by junior
Brad Heethuis (Jenison/Unity Christian HS) with 8:57 left in regulation. The
Heethuis goal was set up by a rush up the right wing by junior Scott Hooker
(Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) who slid a pass through the goalmouth that
Heethuis banged in for his six goals of the season.
The goal by Heethuis would prove to be the winning goal as Carnegie-Mellon
struck back just 30 seconds later on a goal by All-American forward Ricky
Griffin to slice the deficit in half.
Carnegie-Mellon then mounted a final furious charge at the Knights and nearly
found the equalizer on a direct kick from 25 yards out with just over a minute
to play that was saved by Calvin junior goalkeeper Ryan Bratt (Silver Spring,
MD/Washington Christian Academy) with a sprawling save.
The Tartans then collected a corner kick but the corner was headed out of
danger by Calvin in the closing seconds, allowing the Knights to pull out the
win.
“Wow. What a game,” said Calvin men’s soccer coach Chris Hughes
afterward. “Carnegie-Mellon has a fantastic team. A really wonderful team but
our boys were up to the challenge tonight and matched their
effort. I thought our defensive backline was tremendous, particularly senior
Greg Snapper and junior Lucas
Wilgenburg. We also received huge contributions from Kyle Billin and Dan
Nederhoed on defense. Nederhoed was just splendid on both ends of the
field.”
Calvin finished the game with a 12-11 shots at goal advantage. Bratt recorded
six saves for Calvin in just his fourth start in goal for the Maroon and Gold.
“Ryan Bratt was just stellar again,” said Hughes. “We have all the
confidence in the world in him. He stepped up and made a huge save on that
direct kick. He played the shot with textbook form.”
Calvin will now turn its attention to Transylvania, a squad that upset Ohio
Wesleyan 1-0 a week ago and then battled Swarthmore to a 0-0 tie before winning
in a penalty kick shootout.
“Tranyslvania is a very dangerous side,” said Hughes. “They have a
dangerous counterattack and are very strong on defense. We’ll have our hands
full tomorrow night.”
Saturday’s national quarterfinal game will begin at 6:00 p.m. (EST) at
Carnegie-Mellon with the winner advancing to the NCAA III Final Four in San
Antonio, Texas, December 4 & 5.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Calvin 2, Augustana 1
(by Calvin sports information student assistant Andrew Knot)
ROCK ISLAND, IL – For the second time in four years, the Calvin women’s
soccer team is headed to the national quarterfinals. The Knights defeated host
Augustana 2-1 Friday night in a Round of 16 NCAA III Tournament game. Calvin
(16-4-1) will face Washington University (MO) which advanced to Saturday’s
quarterfinal by winning a penalty kick shootout against Wheaton after the game
finished in a 0-0 tie.
Saturday’s national quarterfinal game will begin at 7:00 p.m. (EST) at
Augustana with the winner advancing to the NCAA III Final Four in San Antonio,
Texas, December 4 & 5.
Saturday’s quarterfinal game will feature the second meeting of the year
between Calvin and Washington University with the Bears picking up a 1-0 win at
Calvin in mid-September.
After losing in the first round of the MIAA tournament and failing to secure
an automatic bid for the NCAA tournament, all seemed lost for the Knights.
Calvin’s group of seniors which had visited the elite eight in their freshman
year saw their season come to a crashing halt. Their tournament dreams rapidly
turned to nightmares.
But the best part of a nightmare is waking up. After a week void of practice
and filled with frustration, the Knights’ got their wake up call. The
wake-up call came in the form of a dream tournament bid, a first round draw on
their home turf.
But a wake-up call is pointless if unanswered. Calvin answered, in the
biggest way. After taking shutting out their first and second round opponents
by a collective score of 5-0, Calvin found itself in the sweet sixteen.
Their opponent, Augustana, a one-seed, the fifth ranked team in the country,
on its home turf. After going down 1-0 in the 28th minute, Calvin responded
with the very thing that had gotten them this far: set pieces.
In the 35th minute, junior Lauren Heyboer (Portage/Kalamazoo Christian HS)
took her corner kick success to the right wing in the form of a set piece. She
found her favorite target, junior Carly Prins (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS),
who directed a header towards the far post and equalized the score at 1-1.
From this point on, Calvin took total control of the game, controlling
possession and creating far more chances than Augustana. With continued
pressure, the Knights took a 2-1 off another set piece. In the 64th minute,
junior Mindy Capisciolto (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) played a short corner
kick to junior Elaine Schnabel (Chesterton, IN/Chesterton HS), who hit the far
post nylon an a shot from the 18 on the left wing.
With a 2-1 lead, Calvin sealed a 2-1 victory with some outstanding play from
the back line. The Knight’s defense shut down the Augustana attack and
completed a 2-1 victory.
“I knew if we could apply a high degree of pressure we would be able to stay
in the game,” said Coach Mark Recker.
The victory only furthered the dream tournament run for the Knights.
“[Losing in the MIAA tournament] was a huge wake up call. We are playing
with so much more energy, joy, and overall motivation,” said senior
goalkeeper Kayla Sulzer.
Sulzer is among the senior class who reached the elite eight in their freshmen
year.
“It feels great to be back [in the elite eight]. It’s a huge blessing,”
she said.
Goal scorer Elaine Schnabel echoed that sentiment, “We feel blessed that we
got an invitation to play in this NCAA tournament and we want to celebrate that
gift as long as God allows us to do so.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Calvin 68, Marian 50
WILMINGTON, OH – A youthful Calvin women’s basketball team upped its
season record to 2-0 on the year with a 68-50 victory over Marian College (IN)
Friday night at the Wilmington Inn/Damon’s Tip-Off Tournament.
Freshman center Carissa Verkaik (Holland/Holland Christian HS) had another big
game with 17 points and 13 rebounds, recording her second double-double of the
season. Sophomore Courtney Kurncz (St. Johns/St. Johns HS) had 11 points while
senior Brook VanEck (Lowell/Lowell HS) had nine points and senior Amber Benthem
(McBain/McBain Christian HS) and freshman Allison Wolffis (Muskegon/Muskegon
Mona Shores HS) eight points apiece.
Calvin led 38-20 at halftime and outrebounded Marian 41-36.
Calvin will face host Wilmington – a 63-37 first round winner over
Rose-Hulman Institute Friday – in the championship game on Saturday at 3:00
p.m.
Saturday’s game will be the first meeting between the two teams since a
second round NCAA III Tournament game in 2007 won by Calvin 73-67.
Men’s Basketball
(written by sports information student assistant Derek Neice)
The Calvin men’s basketball team opened its 2009-10 season on a losing note,
falling to the Tigers of Grace Bible College by a score of 83-68.
Calvin will face Lake Forest in the consolation game on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
while Grace Bible moves on to play Davenport – an 88-73 winner over Lake
Forest – in the championship game at 3:00 p.m.
“We’re just inexperienced as a group,” Calvin coach Kevin Vande Streek
said of his teams 0-1 start to the year. “The only way we can get that
experience is to come out and play, and unfortunately we played a good team,
and they were better than us.”
The victory was the first by Grace Bible in 10 tries. Now 7-2, the Tigers are
the defending National Christian College Athletic Association champions.
Senior Matt Veltema led the Knights with 19 total points. Junior Brad
Schnyders chipped in 13 and seniors Trent Salo and John Mantel both added 8
apiece. Off the bench, freshmen Brian Powell and Tom Snikkers finished with 6
and 5 points respectively, and sophomore Brian Haverdink came in and scored 3
points as well as leading the team with 3 assists.
“I thought in the first half defensively, especially the first ten minutes
or so, we were just really poor,” Vande Streek said, “and it’s
frustrating because that’s what we really want to hang our hat on.”
“One good thing I saw was that when we got down by a bunch we didn’t
fold,” he continued, “but whenever we got close we gave up a lay-up or an
uncontested three, and that’s everybody’s responsibility, mine
included.”
“We’re all in this together and we all need to work to get better,”
Vande Streek concluded.
The first half saw Grace jump out to an early lead, a lead it would maintain
over the entirety of the game. Calvin never led at any point, but did manage
to keep it close at points.
Grace started the game on an 18-4 run, with senior Brandon Herlein scoring 12
of those points. Calvin battled back throughout the half, cutting the deficit
to 46-41 by the break.
In the second half the Knights put them in the best possible position to make
a move for control of the game. They cut the lead to 60-58 at around the
10-minute mark in the half, but then the Tigers pulled away and never looked
back, pushing the score to an eventual 83-68 finish.
From the field, Calvin shot 39.3 percent as compared to Grace’s 49.3
percent.
“For tomorrow we’ll watch some tape and shoot around a bit and point out a
few things to the guys,” Vande Streek said of the team’s mentality moving
forward, “so we’ll watch and try to learn something from there and put it
in to practice tomorrow.”
Received on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:58:35 -0500
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