CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 7, 2016
Women's Lacrosse Captures MIAA Tournament Title - Punches NCAA III Tournament Ticket;
Baseball Stung by Kalamazoo on Senior Day
WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Calvin 12, Albion 11
ALBION, Mich. - The Calvin women's lacrosse team captured it's first-ever MIAA Tournament title with a 12-11 victory at Albion. Calvin rallied from five goals down to win on Saturday. The Knights avenged a loss to the Britons in the 2015 MIAA Tournament and a loss earlier in the season at home. With the victory, the Knights advance to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in program history. Calvin improves to 12-5 on the year and Albion falls to 10-7.
"I am really proud of the team," said head coach Blake Boehm. "They have overcome barriers all season long and this game was no exception. We never got down on ourselves when we were down five goals. In the huddle, you could feel the energy and the determination. This game came down to winning possessions and protecting the ball. We played well in transition today and took advantage of our possessions. We really were solid defensively today and Ellis was solid in the net for us. We played with composure today and we finished the day walking away happy."
Albion struck first on Saturday at the 21:48 mark of the first half with a goal from Kadie Koolwick. The Britons struck again 14 seconds later to take a 2-0 lead.
The Britons took a 3-0 lead after scoring a goal with a player advantage. The player advantage took place after an apparent Calvin goal was called off due to an illegal stick, resulting in a yellow card by rule.
Freshman Lauryn Slachter (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) cut through the Albion defense and got Calvin on the scoreboard with 14:52 left in the first half.
Albion pushed the lead back to three on a free position shot.
Junior Emily Cefaratti (Hinsdale, Il./Hinsdale Central HS) ran right in front of the Albion net and sent the ball to the back of the net to cut the deficit to two.
The Britons struck back 31 seconds later at 12:19 to make it 5-2. They scored again 16 seconds later to take a 6-2 lead.
Albion's Julie Wood scored at the 9:11 mark to give Albion a 7-2 lead. Wood scored three goals on the afternoon for the Britons.
Freshman Kelly Pepper (Wycoff, NJ/Indian Hills HS) made the Britons pay for the yellow card later on with a goal on a free position shot. The goal cut the Albion lead to 7-3.
With 4:43 left, Lauryn Slachter spun in front of the net and scored to make it 7-4.
Sophomore Amanda Davio (Okemos/Okemos HS) struck 43 seconds later from a pass from Emily Cefaratti.
Freshman Madeline Baas (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) scored off of a beautiful pass from Emily Cefaratti over the net.
Kelly Pepper tied the game with 48 second left in the half.
After trailing 7-2, the Knights went into halftime tied at seven.
Emily Cefaratti gave Calvin its first lead of the day at the 28:18 mark of the second half.
Cefaratti and the Knights caught the Britons sleeping 20 second later off of a long transition pass from freshman Emma Tilma (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS).
Calvin scored seven-straight goals until Albion scored with 27:56 left in the game to make it a 9-8 game.
Amanda Davio trickled one past Victoria Della Pia on a free position shot with 24:29 left.
Davio put the ball in the back of the net with 21:40 left for her third goal of the day.
Albion cut the lead to 11-9 on a free position goal at the 19:26 mark of the second half.
Albion scored on an empty net with 9:36 left to cut the lead to 11-10.
Emma Tilma gave Calvin a two-goal lead with 7:51 remaining.
The Britons cut the lead to one with 5:30 left.
The game came down to the wire and Albion was given a free position with four seconds remaining. The Calvin defense kept the ball out of the net and the Knights claimed the MIAA title.
Freshman goalie Ellis Chalfant (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis Country Day School) recorded some key saves in the victory on Saturday. Chalfant notched 12 saves.
Emily Cefaratti had a game-high five points with three goals and two assists. Amanda Davio also recorded three goals.
Madeline Baas helped the Calvin comeback with four ground balls in the victory.
The Knights forced 16 Albion turnovers on Saturday.
The Maroon and Gold had 21 ground balls, with Emily Cefaratti and Lauryn Slachter finishing with five.
Calvin outshot Albion. 29-28.
The Knights will figure out who they play in the NCAA Division III Tournament on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. when the selection show is announced at: http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2016/2612&date=2016/05/08
BASEBALL
Kalamazoo 4, Calvin 3
Kalamazoo 16, Calvin 11 (10 innings)
One day after Calvin stung Kalamazoo on its Senior Day, Kalamazoo stung back.
The visiting Hornets took both ends of a doubleheader from Calvin on Saturday, winning 4-3 and 16-11 in 10 innings. The teams split the four-game weekend series with Calvin winning at Kalamazoo on Friday 3-2 and 10-4.
Calvin finished the year with an overall record of 16-24 and in sixth place in the final MIAA standings with a 12-16 conference record.
In game one, Calvin fell behind 4-0 but fought back with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Steven Seager (Plantation, Fl./Plantation HS) had an RBI single in the rally while sophomore Nick Steigenga (Mahwah, NJ/Eastern Christian HS) had a two-out, two-run RBI double.
Calvin placed a runner in scoring position in the sixth but could not tie the game. The Knights then went down in order in the seventh, allowing Kalamazoo to claim the win.
Junior Sawyer Howard (Atlanta, Il./Olympia HS) took the loss for Calvin in seven innings of work to fall to 2-4 on the year. Seager had two of Calvin's eight hits while junior Mike Kempton (Edwardsburg/Edwardsburg HS) went 3-for-3 at the plate.
In game two, sloppy defensive play doomed the Knights as they committed a season-high eight errors.
Despite the defensive miscues, Calvin led 6-2 after three innings and 11-9 after eight innings but the Knights could not hold the lead.
Kalamazoo opened the top of the ninth by placing its leadoff batter aboard on a dropped fly ball, one of four outfield errors the Knights were charged with in the game.
The Hornets loaded the bases with two outs and tied the game as a Kalamazoo batter was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Moments later, the tying run was walked in before the Knights were finally able to get out the jam.
In the 10th, the flood gates opened for Kalamazoo as the Hornets scored five runs on three hits and two Calvin errors to seal the win.
Senior Jordan VanderWall (Wyoming/South Christian HS) went 4-for-6 in his final game in a Calvin uniform to raise his final season batting average to .349. Kempton also went 4-for-6 with three runs driven in. Seager went 3-for-5 to raise his season batting average to .397. Junior Colton Wolfe (Eaton Rapids/Eaton Rapids HS) and sophomore Nate DeZwaan (Holland/Holland Christian HS) had two hits apiece.
Junior Patrick Avila (Lakewood, Ca./Valley Christian HS) took the loss for Calvin in relief. Sophomore Ryan Stewart (Detroit/Parkway Christian HS) started the game and went the first four innings for the Knights.
Saturday marked the final collegiate games for Calvin seniors Jordan VanderWall, Kyle Wasserberger and Matt Poolman.
MIAA BASEBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 5-7-16 GAMES
Adrian 24-4
Alma 18-10
Hope 17-10
Kalamazoo 17-11
Trine 14-14
Calvin 12-16
Albion 7-20
Olivet 2-26
Received on Sat May 7 23:31:46 2016
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