CKSR (Women's Basketball Opens MIAA Season With Win at Kalamazoo/Calvin Women's Soccer Players Receive NSCAA All-Central Region Honors/Ryan Souders Featured by D3soccer.com)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR DEC. 2, 2015

Women's Basketball Opens MIAA Season With Win at Kalamazoo;
Calvin Women's Soccer Players Receive NSCAA All-Central Region Honors;
Ryan Souders Featured by D3soccer.com

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Calvin 81, Kalamazoo 65

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Calvin women's basketball team improved to 5-1 on the year and opened its MIAA campaign on a successful note with an 81-65 victory at Kalamazoo Wednesday night.

Ranked 11th in the Division III Coaches' poll and 13th by D3hoops.com, Calvin used a 12-1 run in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.

Calvin led 43-33 at halftime but Kalamazoo outscored Calvin 17-12 in the third quarter and then crept to within three at 55-52 early in the fourth quarter.

Calvin's 12-1 run midway through the fourth quarter was sparked by a pair of three-pointers by senior Abby Springer (Vernon Hills, IL/Vernon Hills HS) and a steal-and-layup by senior Kally Verkaik (Holland/Holland Christian HS).

Calvin struggled from the perimeter until the fourth quarter, hitting on only 4 of 18 from three-point range but then hit 4 of 8 from downtown over the final 10 minutes with Verkaik and sophomore Ali Spayde (Lewis Center, Oh./Worthington Christian HS) also splashing home three pointers.

Junior Anna Timmer (Caledonia/South Christian HS) led Calvin with 25 points and 13 rebounds, matching a career high in scoring. Springer also tossed in a career-high 21 points while sophomore Bre Luurtsema (Holland/Holland Christian HS) had 10 points.

Kalamazoo (1-3 overall, 0-1 MIAA) was led by Emily Kozal who pumped in 21 points while Grace Smith had 17 points and Kelsey Adamski 10.

Calvin held a 37-30 rebounding advantage and forced Kalamazoo into 28 turnovers. Verkaik, Springer, Timmer and senior Tiffany Karger had four steals apiece.

"Kalamazoo played really well. We had to earn this one," said Calvin women's basketball coach John Ross after the game. "I felt we made some big defensive plays off our press in the fourth quarter to seal the game. It is always nice to pick up your first conference road win of the year. They are not easy to come by."

Calvin will now prepare to host Saint Mary's on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Van Noord Arena.

MIAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 12-2-15

Calvin 1-0
Hope 1-0
Olivet 1-0
Adrian 1-0
Albion 0-0
Trine 0-1
Kalamazoo 0-1
Alma 0-1
Saint Mary's 0-1

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Four members of the Calvin women's soccer team have received National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division III All-Central Region honors.

Senior midfielder Taylor Ten Harmsel has been named to the NSCAA Division III All-Central Region first team, senior forward Paige Capel has been named to the second team and seniors (goalkeeper) Holly Ellerbroek and (defender) Jaimie Verbal have been named to the third team.

A native of Holland and a graduate of Holland Christian High School, Ten Harmsel is receiving all-region honors for the third consecutive year.

This fall, Ten Harmsel collected 10 goals, six assists and 26 points. Of her 10 goals, four were game-winners. She was also 2-for-2 in penalty kick chances. She was named the MIAA's Most Valuable Player and landed a spot on the All-MIAA first team for the fourth straight year.
She finished her career with totals of 33 goals, 23 assists and 89 points. She now ranks 16th on the Calvin career list in goals, 11th in assists and 14th in points.
Ten Harmsel was part of three MIAA championship teams at Calvin as well as three teams that won MIAA Tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA III Tournament including this year's advancement to the quarterfinals. During her tenure, Calvin produced an overall won-loss record of 63-21-7.

A native of Hudsonville and a graduate of Unity Christian High School, Capel is receiving all-region honors for the second time in her career.

Capel had a sensational senior campaign, scoring 18 goals to go with seven assists for a total of 43 points. Seven of her 18 goals were game-winners. She was named to the All-MIAA first team and was a two-time MIAA Player of the Week selection.

She finished her career with 51 goals, 26 assists and 128 points. She ranks seventh on the Calvin career list in goals, 10 in assists and sixth in points.

Ellerbroek is from Holland and is a graduate of Holland Christian High School. She is receiving all-region honors for the first time in her career.

Ellerbroek sparkled in her first year in a Calvin uniform, posting a won-loss record of 21-3-2 along with a goals-against-average of 0.74 and 12 shutouts. She had 74 saves and a saves percentage of .796. She established a new Calvin single-season record for goalkeeper victories this fall with her shutout total ranking fourth on the Calvin single-season list and her goals-against-average ranking 10th. Last month, she was named to the All-MIAA second team.

Verbal is from Whitmore Lake and is a graduate of Dexter High School. She is receiving all-region honors for the first time in her career. Verbal was part of a Calvin defensive unit that posted 16 shutouts and allowed only 19 goals on the year. She also added a goal and an assist this fall for a total of three points. She was named to the All-MIAA second team last month.

Under the direction of head coach Mark Recker, the Calvin women's soccer team had a superlative 2015 campaign, finishing 21-3-2 overall while reaching the national quarterfinals of the NCAA III Tournament. The win total was the second-highest in school history. The Knights also captured the MIAA regular season title with a 14-0-2 conference record and then won the MIAA Tournament title with tournament victories over Olivet and Hope.

MEN'S SOCCER

Calvin men's soccer coach Ryan Souders is the subject of a question and answer session with D3soccer.com published earlier today.

The interview with Souders can be found online at: http://d3soccer.com/columns/ryan-harmanis/2015/coach-souders-interview
Received on Wed Dec 2 23:03:01 2015