CKSR (Divers Qualify For National Meet / Men's Lacrosse Wins Overtime Thriller at Wabash / Women's Tennis Falls at Wheaton)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 27, 2016 (PART TWO)

Divers Qualify For National Meet;
Men's Lacrosse Wins Overtime Thriller at Wabash;
Women's Tennis Falls at Wheaton

WOMEN'S DIVING

GRANVILLE, Ohio - For the second-straight year sophomore Sarah Bradley has qualified her for the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships.
"I am pretty excited," said head diving coach Aaron Paskvan. "I am so proud of both women, they have really done a great job all year and their hard work has paid off. I am just very excited for Sarah, she has really put in a lot of hard work, especially coming back from the break."
Bradley, a sophomore from Wheaton, Illinois, finished the day in third place on the 1-meter with a score of 423.10. She finished the 3-meter competition in sixth place on Friday at 422.75.
I am really happy," said Bradley. "I was going into today thinking that 6th place on the 3-meter might not get me through so I knew that it was going to have to be on me today. I didn't have a great warm-up today, but I had a first good dive and I carried it from there.
Sophomore Nicole Langerak (Jenison, Mich./Jenison) finished in 22nd place at 359.50.
The NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships will take place March 16-19 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
MEN'S DIVING

GRANVILLE, Ohio - The Calvin men finished the NCAA Regionals on Saturday at Denison University on the 3-meter boards.
Michael Moentmann a sophomore from Solon, Ohio, finished in sixth place on Saturday with a score of 460.90. Moentmann's total allowed him to snap up one of the 10 allotted qualifying berths to the upcoming NCAA III Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. The national meet will take place March 6-19.
Dirk Tanis a junior from Holland, Michigan, tallied a 15th-place finish with a score of 395.65.
Moentmann will be making his first-ever trip to the national meet. Competing in a field of 25 divers, Moentmann remained steady throughout Saturday's competition according to Calvin diving coach Aaron Paskvan.
"We knew that if Michael could get 11 dives up and 11 dives down in consistent fashion he would be in good shape," said Paskvan. "He kept his composure and was very consistent despite the pressure of competing in the deepest and in my opionion, toughest diving regionals in the country. Some divers have a hard time coming through the fire but Michael came through in fine form. I'm very excited for him. I knew he had the potential to move on to nationals and he has the ability to perform well at the national meet as well."
Paskvan also offered words of praise for Tanis. "Dirk made strong improvement next year," said Paskvan. "This was his second year at regionals and he continues to make strides. If we can up his degree of difficulty on a few more dives and work on his entry into the water, he could be on his way to nationals next year as well."

MEN'S LACROSSE
Calvin 14, Wabash 13 (2OT)

By Gina de Haan

Kalamazoo, MI - On Saturday, the Calvin men's lacrosse team faced off against nonconference opponent Wabash College. Due to heavy snow in the Grand Rapids area, the home game was moved to Kalamazoo College's MacKenzie Field.

The Knights entered the game with a 1-1 record while the afternoon contest served as the season opener for the Little Giants.

In a competitive game with lots of back-and-forth scoring, the Knights came out with the victory, defeating Wabash in double overtime by a score of 14-13.

Wabash came out strong in the first quarter, scoring the first two goals of the competition to take an early lead.

Late in the first quarter, the Knights got their offense going, scoring three consecutive goals. Chris Griffin scored the first Calvin goal, unassisted, with 3:10 remaining in the quarter. Two minutes later, Nate Ray (assisted by Griffin) added another point for Calvin and with 19.1 seconds left the Knights took a 3-2 lead off Griffin's second goal.

Early in the second quarter, the Little Giants tied the game at three. The Knights took back the lead just over a minute later off a goal by Austin Bontreger (assisted by Griffin).

With 6:59 remaining before halftime, Ray scored his second goal of the game (assisted by Jonathan Miller) to give the Knights a two-goal (5-3) advantage.

Wabash would score two goals before the halftime break as the Knights struggled to gain possession of the ball. The score was knotted 5-5 after two quarters of play.

At the half, Wabash had recorded 24 shots (11 shots on goal) while Calvin tallied 14 (10 shots on goal).

Wabash scored the first goal of the second half at the 1:58 mark to take a 6-5 lead. The Knights tied the game once again after Ray scored his third goal of the afternoon with 11:40 remaining in the third quarter of play.

In the remainder of the third quarter, Calvin and Wabash netted three goals apiece. Ray (assisted by Griffin), Joel Schaerfer (assisted by Griffin) and Noah Nedd scored for the Knights.

The score was tied at nine heading into the final quarter of the game.

Wabash scored early in the fourth, but Nedd responded with an unassisted goal to tie the game at 10.

The Knights took the lead off Ray's fifth goal of the game. Calvin's Schaefer followed with another goal to boost Calvin's lead to two goals.

The Knights struggled to stay out of the penalty box and the Little Giants capitalized on their man-advantages. Wabash then scored three consecutive power play goals to take a 13-12 lead over the Knights.

However, Calvin wasn't ready to accept defeat and with 47.9 seconds remaining, Griffin powered his way to the net and scored the tying goal. Despite scoring chances on both sides, neither team would find the back of the net and the score remained knotted at 13 as regulation time expired.

A four-minute, sudden-death overtime period followed. Neither team would score in the first overtime.

With just under a minute left to play in the second overtime period, Ray scored yet another goal (assisted by Griffin) to earn the Knights the victory.

Nate Ray led the Knights in scoring with six goals. Ethan Brown led the Knights with seven ground balls, while Jake Horstman and Michael Winkler scooped up six apiece.

In the win, goalie Tristan Parece recorded 14 saves.

The Little Giants oushot the Knights 50-33. Wabash won 24 faceoffs while Calvin only won eight. Wabash scooped up 51 ground balls while the home team had 41. The Knights were 24 of 28 for clears while the visitors were 19 of 25.

Calvin had a total of nine penalties (6 minutes 30 seconds) while Wabash was only shorthanded for 1:30 on two infractions.

"It was a very hard fight," said Calvin head coach Luke Griemsman after his team's win. "You have to give a lot of credit to the Wabash team - the way they were coached, the way they played, their sportsmanship. They gave us a great fight. It feels good to have the win come on our side though."

After Wabash scored three consecutive goals to take the lead late in the game, Coach Griemsman said he emphasized positivity to his team. "We told our team that they have to keep in mind that the game is not over and there's time on the board. You have to think positively," reflected Griemsman. "You don't have to do anything crazy - play good, solid team defense, you talk things through and then it's the offense's job to finish the game." All these things were keys to the Knights' victory.

The Knights return to action next Saturday, March 5, when they host Milwaukee School of Engineering at Grand Rapids Christian High School. Game time is 1:00 p.m.

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Wheaton 9, Calvin 0

HANOVER PARK, Ill. - The Calvin women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon to Wheaton. The Knights fall to 2-1 on the year with the 9-0 loss. Wheaton moves to 10-1 on the season.

"We had a good weekend overall," said head coach Kevin Van Haitsma. "We had a nice win over Elmhurst and battled well against Wheaton. Wheaton is always a good team to play. They always have great players with great sportsmanship. Claire really played a great three set match vs. Katie Park. It's a great way to start the season with a competitive road trip."

In doubles action the Knights fell at No. 1 doubles, 8-5, at No. 2 doubles, 8-0 and at No. 3 doubles, 8-4.

Junior Ellie Benzel (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas) fell to Julie Buursma, 6-0, 6-3.

Junior Claire Spoelhof (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) dropped a tight battle at No. 2 singles to Katie Park, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

At No. 3 singles, sophomore Jessica Bouma (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian) lost to Emily Jones, 6-0, 6-0.

Sophomore Micaela Seazzu (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia) fell to Kirstie White at No. 4 singles, 6-1, 6-0.

At No. 5 singles freshman Alyssa Bowman (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) fell 6-2, 6-1 to Miranda Key and junior Liz Turner (Audobon, Pa./Delaware County Christian) lost at No. 6 singles to Sara Magnuson, 6-1, 6-0.

The Knights return to action on March 10, as they host Davenport.
Received on Sun Feb 28 01:05:30 2016