CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR OCT. 21, 2014
Men's Soccer Wraps Up Outright MIAA Regular Season Title With Win Over Adrian;
Volleyball Moves Up Spot in National Rankings
MEN'S SOCCER
Calvin 6, Adrian 0
By Mark DeHaan
The seventh-ranked Calvin men's soccer team hosted the Bulldogs of Adrian on Tuesday afternoon at Zuidema Field. Standing at 10-0 in conference play and with the nearest contender three wins behind, the Knights had the opportunity to claim at least a share of the conference title with a win.
Paced by sophomore Stephan Hooker (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS), win is exactly what the Knights did as four different Calvin players found the back of the net en route to a 6-0 victory.
Coupled with a 3-2 Hope loss to Albion, the win gives the Knights their eighth consecutive MIAA championship and their fourth straight outright.
Calvin opened up the scoring in the 20th minute. Freshman Matt Hinds (Frankenmuth/Frankenmuth HS) took an in-swinging corner kick and sent it to the top of the six yard box. Stepping off the near post, Hooker found himself all alone as he nodded the ball past the Adrian keeper and into the back of the net.
In the 28th minute, the Knights doubled their lead. Again it was a header, this time from senior Sean Broekhuizen (Grand Rapids/South Christian HS) on a long throw-in from senior Reed Bowden (Uxbridge, MA/Whitinsville Christian HS),that beat the Bulldogs goalie.
Calvin took the 2-0 lead as well as a 14-0 shots advantage into the break.
In the second half, Calvin scored a pair of goals less than two minutes apart to add some insurance. Senior Travis Vegter (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) headed in another Hinds pass to put the Knights up 3-0 in the 51st minute, then Hooker added his second on a beautiful chip from the top of the box to give Calvin a 4-0 advantage.
Hooker completed a hat trick in the 61st minute. After being taken down in the box, Hooker stepped up to the penalty spot and buried the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Calvin's final goal came from junior Sam Hanover (Saint Johns/Saint Johns HS) with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Receiving a pass from junior Austin Jorritsma (Redlands, CA/Arrowhead Christian Academy) in the center of the box, Hanover put a low ball toward the bottom-left corner on frame that beat the Bulldogs keeper, giving the Knights a 6-0 lead which they held until the end of the game.
Calvin outshot Adrian 30-1 for the contest while also holding an 11-1 corner kick advantage. Junior goalkeeper Niko Giantsopoulos (Markham, ON/St. Augustine Catholic HS) made one save in goal for the Knights to earn the clean sheet.
"Second half was much, much better. I think we had a little bit of lag from the Hope game, maybe," said head coach Ryan Souders. "Second half, we moved the ball well, created chances and guys finished chances. It was a complete team effort, from player one to 26."
With the win, the Knights move to 14-2 overall and 11-0 in conference play, clinching the MIAA title with the victory. Adrian falls to 4-11-1 overall and 1-9-1 in the MIAA.
"It is never a small deal to win a conference championship," said Souders. "We're excited about that, but we're also excited about moving forward and we have a big game coming up on Saturday. Trine is going to give us a tough game on the road. We just have to keep moving forward."
Calvin now looks forward to Saturday when it travels to Trine to face the Thunder. The weekend matchup is scheduled to kickoff at 2:30 p.m.
Calvin is now ranked seventh in the latest NSCAA III Division III Top 25 poll as well as the most recent D3soccer.com Top 25 poll.
NSCAA TOP 25 POLL: http://www.nscaatv.com/rankings/3714/NCAADivisionIII/men/Poll8
D3SOCCER.COM TOP 25 POLL: http://d3soccer.com/top25/men/2014/week8
VOLLEYBALL
The Calvin women's volleyball team has moved up a spot in the latest AVCA Division III Top 25 Poll. The Knights are ranked third in this week's poll with Cal Lutheran ranked second and Hope ranked first. Calvin will host the top-ranked Flying Dutch of Hope Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. at Calvin's Van Noord Arena. Admission to the match is free.
The match will feature a live stats scoreboard at: http://www.calvin.edu/scoreboard and a video broadcast: http://new.livestream.com/calvin-college and an audio broadcast: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/calvin/
AVCA DIVISION TOP 25 POLL: http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-three-women/poll-10-21-14/
Received on Tue Oct 21 23:39:18 2014
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