CKSR (Men's Soccer Team Headed Back to NCAA III Final Four After Dramatic Quarterfinal Win Over Texas-Tyler)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 19, 2011

Men's Soccer Team Headed Back to NCAA III Final Four After Dramatic
Quarterfinal Win Over Texas-Tyler

MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 3, Texas-Tyler 2 - 2OT
(By Sports Information Student Assistant Andrew Knot)

REDLANDS, CA - For the second time in three years, Calvin’s men’s soccer squad
has advanced to the Final Four. At one point less than five minutes from
seeing their season end, the Knights earned a trip to San Antonio with a
dramatic 3-2 overtime victory over the University of Texas at Tyler on
Saturday.
Calvin finished the game with a 20-15 advantage in shots, but it was Tyler
with a majority of possession early on. Calvin, however, got on the board
first off an acrobatic bicycle kick from freshman Travis Vegter. Vegter biked
a bouncing ball in the box over the head of Tyler keeper Sergio Gardea.
The lead wouldn’t hold for long, however. Five minutes later, in the late
stages of the first half, Tyler equalized the game at 1-1.
Tyler came out of the halftime break strong. The Patriots dictated the pace
of play early in the second half. Their possession resulted in a goal off the
foot of Chris Powell, who beat the keeper and directed a shot in the net’s left
corner.
Trailing 2-1, the Knight’s Final Four dreams grew dimmer with each tick of the
clock. Those dreams took a serious hit when junior Nick Holtrop was sent off
with a red card in the 83rd minute. Calvin would have to finish the game down
a man.
But Calvin found a spark in adversity, and threw numbers forward to tie the
game.
“When we went a man down, our team just started to take off,” said Calvin
coach Chris Hughes.
In the 86th minute, fifth year senior Brad Heethuis, no stranger to critical
NCAA tournament goals, touched a ball past Gardea, to square the game in
gripping fashion. Twenty minutes earlier, Hughes decided to put Heethuis in as
a striker for just that reason.
“I put him with his experience tonight, hoping that he could find a way to put
the ball in the back of the net,” said Hughes.
Heethuis did just that. His late-game goal sent the match into overtime, in
which the Knights started to swing the possession battle their way.
“We really played well in those overtimes. We were going at them hard,” said
Hughes.
The two sides remained scoreless in the first overtime period, though Calvin
generated several dangerous opportunities. Then, minutes into the second
overtime, the Knights found their chance.
Calvin drew a corner kick less than two minutes into the second overtime.
Chris Nance played a ball into the box, which bounced around the area for
seconds until junior Trevor Bushhouse turned on the ball and volleyed it into
the back of the net. The goal sealed the game for Calvin, and booked their
ticket to San Antonio for the Final Four.
“Bushhouse turned around and hit it with such velocity that there was nothing
stopping that ball,” said Hughes of the goal, which completed a comeback that
at one point seemed all too improbable.
“We thought the season was close to being done,” said Hughes, who has led the
Knights to at least the Elite Eight in three consecutive years.
The Knights will play in the National Semi-Final on Friday, December 2. Calvin
will face the winner of a Nov. 20 national quarterfinal game between Montclair
State and Stevens Institute of Technology.
Received on Sun Nov 20 00:17:50 2011