CKSR (Women's Lacrosse Wins OT Thriller in Kentucky / Baseball Doubled up By Denison / Men's Tennis Tops Wisconsin Lutheran / Track and Field Athletes Conclude Indoor Campaigns)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 5, 2016

Women's Lacrosse Wins Overtime Thriller in Kentucky;
Baseball Doubled Up by Denison;
Men's Tennis Tops Wisconsin Lutheran;
Track and Field Athletes Conclude Indoor Campaigns

WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Calvin 14, Transylvania 13 (OT)

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Calvin women's lacrosse team rallied from three-down twice on Saturday to force overtime, where the Knights would walk away victorious with a 14-13 victory. The Knights improve to 2-0 on the year and Transylvania falls to 0-2 on the season.
"That was a hard fought, come-from-behind win for us," said head coach Blake Boehm. "We had to battle back from a deficit several times today. Transylvania had a strong game plan and they executed it well. The whole weekend, we did very well managing our effort and execution. Players dug deep and were relentless in securing possessions."
The Pioneers took an early 2-0 lead before freshman Lauryn Slachter (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) got the Knights on the scoreboard at 21:23.
Junior Emily Cefaratti (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) cut the Pioneer lead to 3-2 with 15:11 remaining in the first half.
Alexis Rubin gave Transylvania a 4-2 lead before Calvin would go on a 3-0 run. Starting off the Calvin scoring spree was freshman Kelly Pepper (Wyckoff, N.J./Indian Hills) at 12:54. The Knights would strike again two minutes later, this time sophomore Emma Hall (Harare, Zimbabwe/Chisipite Senior School) tying the game at four, with an assist from sophomore Amanda Davio (Okemos, Mich./Okemos). Emily Cefaratti would give the Knights a 5-4 lead with 8:55 remaining in the first half.
The Pioneers finished the first half on a 2-0 run to lead 6-5 going into halftime.
Transylvania started the second half on a 2-0 run to lead 8-5.
Calvin would score the next four goals to lead 9-8. Emily Cefaratti scored three of the four goals, with Amanda Davio also scoring.
The Pioneers would not go away and would go on a 4-0 run to take a 12-9 lead with 9:55 remaining in the game.
Emily Cefaratti would strike again with her sixth goal of the day to cut the lead to 12-10.
29 seconds later, Amanda Davio scored to make it 12-11.
Tansylvania's Lucy Meredith pushed the Pioneers lead to 13-11, with 5:23 remaining.
"In the last timeout in regulation, when we were down two," said Boehm. "We spoke to the team about being hyper focused on possessions. We knew that they would try to stall if they won possession and we couldn't let that happen. Once we had possession we had to be patient and wait for our opportunities."
The Knights would not quit on Saturday, Kelly Pepper would score the next two goals to tie the game with 2:28 left in regulation.
The Pioneers were applying pressure late and freshman Ellis Chalfant (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day) stopped the shot from Julie Ward with 15 seconds remaining to force overtime.
"Heading into overtime we had a similar plan," said Boehm. "Win possession and wait for the right opportunity. They won the initial draw, our defense forced a turnover and we were able to transition down the field and set up our attack."
Amanda Davio put the ball in the back of the net to secure the victory for Calvin.
Emily Cefaratti led all scorers on Saturday with six goals.
Ellis Chalfant tallied nine saves in the victory.
The Knights return to action on Saturday, March 12 at Capital.

BASEBALL
Denison 10, Calvin 3
Denison 18, Calvin 11

WESTFIELD, Ind. - The Calvin baseball team recorded a pair of loses on Saturday to Denison. The Knights fell in game one, 10-3. Calvin fell short in game two, falling to the Big Red, 18-11. Calvin falls to 0-3 on the season.
"I think we learned a lot this weekend about our team," said head coach John Rypel. "We know we have a lot of work to do. I'm looking forward to getting back to practice and seeing this team progress throughout the year."
Denison got on the scoreboard first in the first game, with Jack Blanchard hitting a single up the middle and scoring Jake Meegan from third base.
Calvin would fight back in the bottom half of the first inning with junior Mike Kempton stealing home to tie the game at one. Freshman Steven Seager singled to center field to send junior Matt Kotva home from second base to lead 2-1.
In the second inning, sophomore Ryan Stewart singled to left center to send home sophomore Nate DeZwaan.
The Big Red would score three in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 7-3 lead.
Freshman Clay Francisco pitched 4.1 innings for the Maroon and Gold on Saturday, finishing the day with four runs, three strikeouts and two walks.
Denison would extend the lead scoring a run in the seventh, eighth and the ninth inning, to take the first game 10-3.
Mike Kempton, Steven Seager and Ryan Stewart all finished the first game with two hits.
The Big Red struck first again in the second day with an early 3-0 lead, scoring a run in the first, third and fourth innings.
The Calvin bats came alive in the fourth inning, junior Colton Wolfe started the scoring with a homerun to left field. With the based loaded, freshman Ryan Lang belted the ball to left center for a triple, sending freshman Steven Dogger, Nate DeZwaan and Steven Seager home.
Denison took the lead back in the fifth inning with a pair of doubles to take a 5-4 lead.
The Knights reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Helped by a Denison error the Knights scored three runs in the fifth. Steven Seager flied out to right field but senior Jordan VanderWall scored from third. Nate DeZwaan doubled in freshman Jonathan Keane and Colton Wolfe to make it 7-5.
The Big Red tied the game in the seventh inning. Colton Wolfe broke the tie reaching home plate on a muffed ball from the Denison first-baseman. Nate DeZwaan hit a single up the middle two batters later, sending home Jonathan Keane.
Denison regained the lead in the eighth inning, the Big Red scored six runs in the eighth and five runs in the ninth to take a 18-9 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Colton Wolfe and Jonathan Keane scored off of a single from sophomore Hunter Darling to cut the deficit to seven.
Jonathan Keane pitched 4.2 innings, giving up five runs off of seven hits, he also struck out five.
Ryan Stewart was credited with the loss, with eight runs in three innings pitched.
The Knights return to action on Saturday, March 12 when they face Capital in Westfield, Indiana.

MEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 9, Wisconsin Lutheran 0

GLENDALE, Wisc. - The Calvin men's tennis team picked up its second straight dual meet win in Wisconsin, defeating host Wisconsin Lutheran 9-0 Saturday night at the Elite Sports Club.

Calvin (2-0) picked up walkover wins at No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles as Wisconsin Lutheran did not field participants in either flight.

Calvin also rolled in head-to-head competition. Senior Matt Buesing defeated Derek Sallman 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles; sophomore Matt VanWinkle dropped Ben Wordell 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles; sophomore David Brown clipped Paul Fitzgerald 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 singles; junior Taylor Asfour topped Tanner Schieve 6-2, 6-0 at No. 4 singles and sophomore Christopher Dausman rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 5 singles.

Sophomore Anthony Vroon claimed the walkover win at No. 6 singles.

VanWinkle and Asfour claimed an 8-1 win over Wordell and Sallman at No. 1 doubles while Buesing and Brown dropped Fitzgerald and Schieve 8-0 at No. 2 doubles.

Freshman Jason Wolters and Andrew Airgood were walkover winners at No. 3 doubles.

"It was a successful weekend and we're glad to get two wins," said Calvin tennis coach John Ross. "We are trying to continue to build and progress with this team, particularly as we near our conference schedule."

Calvin returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Concordia University of Michigan at 6 p.m. in a non-conference match at the Huizenga Tennis and Track Center.

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

A handful of athletes from the Calvin women's track and field team concluded their indoor seasons on Saturday by competing at last-chance meets.

Senior McKenzie Diemer (Caledonia/South Christian HS) competed in the mile run at a last-chance meet hosted by Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Diemer clocked in with a time of 5:05.74.

At the Ohio Northern Polar Bear Final Qualifier, sophomore Jenna Dyksen (Hawthorne, NJ/Hawthorne HS) had a season-best time of 9.21 in the prelims of the 60 meter hurdles before taking fourth in the finals with a time of 9.23.

In the 800 meters, sophomore Caroline Boss (Charlevoix/Charlevoix HS) took first place in a time of 2:20.72.

MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

A handful of athletes from the Calvin men's track and field team concluded their indoor seasons on Saturday by competing at the Ohio Northern Polar Bear Final Qualifier.

In the 3,000 meters, sophomore Andrew Philipose (Mount Prospect, IL/John Hersey HS) had a season-best time of 8:36.71 that was good for third place. Freshman Jamison Koeman (Whitinsville, MA/Whitinsville Christian HS) also took seventh in 8:50.45 while junior Nathan Van Haitsma (Olympia, Wa./Olympia HS) was 10th (9:06.45).

In the mile run, senior Jeff Meitler (New Berlin, Wisc./Milwaukee Lutheran HS) took second in a time of 4:29.65.

Sophomore Ethan Valentine (Mason, Oh./William Mason HS) was eighth in the 400 meters (51.55).

In the 5,000 meters, senior Ethan Anderson (Stillwater, MN/Stillwater Area HS) took first (15:02.32) while junior Jordan Kramer (Pewaukee, Wisc./Lake Country Lutheran HS) was third (15:10.34) and junior Zach Nowicki (Comstock Park/Calvin Christian HS) fourth (15:16.07).

In the pole vault, senior Lucas Wolters (Vincennes, Ind./South Knox HS) tied for third with a vault of 15-5 1/2.
Received on Sat Mar 5 23:25:33 2016