Hornets Beat Albion College for First Time in 5 Years and Move to 3rd Place in MIAA; Shutout Streak Extended to 4 in a Row October 8, 2005

The Kalamazoo College women's soccer team extended its recent winning streak to 4 games in a row (all 4 being shutouts) with a huge 1-0 victory over the visiting Albion College Britons on Saturday. The result was Kalamazoo's first win against Albion in 5 years, since the 2000 season. With the win, the Hornets improve to 6-4-1 overall in 2005 (5-3 MIAA), and move to 3rd Place in the MIAA standings after the first round of conference competition. Kalamazoo will begin the second round of MIAA play on Wednesday 10/12 (4:00pm) on the road at Alma College in a rematch of the Hornets' 1-0 victory over the Scots on 9/14.

Against Albion, Kalamazoo scored the game's only goal in the 22nd minute of play, in front of a Homecoming crowd of around 200+ people. After battling Albion predominantly in the midfield for the first 10-15 minutes of the game, the Hornets soon took over the game's possession and created a few good scoring opportunities in the Briton 18-yard-box. Each of these chances resulted in a shot that went wide of the goal, however, until the Hornets finally capitalized on a sequence where a string of shots were blocked by Albion defenders but the ball stayed inside the crowded penalty area. During this sequence, freshman center midfielder Kelly Lepper got her foot on the ball with her back to the goal, and flicked it to her right into the path of sophomore forward Aliza Caplan, who slid to knock the ball into the back of the net from just outside the 6-yard-box. The goal was Kalamazoo's first against the Britons since 2001.

For the remainder of the half, Kalamazoo carried most of the possession, but Albion never stopped fighting to get an equalizer. Just minutes after the Hornets goal, in fact, it appeared as though the score would be knotted at one apiece when a Briton player broke free down the left side of the field and fired an incredible far-post shot that was headed into the upper-90 of the goal. Hornet sophomore goalkeeper Monisha Berkowski dove acrobatically to her left side, however, and got just her fingertips on the ball in order to spin it just inches wide of the post for a corner kick.

"Mo's save was almost a carbon copy of the save she made against St. Mary's earlier this week," said Hornet Head Coach Laura Passage. "On the sidelines, we celebrated her save as though our team had scored a goal--it was that amazing."

In the second half, the Hornets altered their lineup to account for the fact that senior outside midfielder Megan Brady had left the game with just under 3 minutes remaining in the first half after sustaining a severe ankle injury. Freshman forward Sarah Arnosky moved back to take Brady's position, center mid Kelly Lepper was moved up to forward, and freshman Stephanie Jones filled Lepper's shoes in the center of the field. The move paid off in dividends, as the Hornets had an even easier time keeping possession of the ball all over the field in the second half.

"Kelly's probably our most technically sound player, and she reads the game so intelligently," said Coach Passage. "She almost never gives the ball up, and she does a great job of finding her teammates' feet. Thus, we may have found ourselves a new forward... because with her up top, we kept possession of the ball so much more easily from the back to the front of the field."

The lineup change also solidified the Hornet's defensive efforts, putting Jones--a defensive-minded player with tons of stamina--in the middle of the field to negate Albion's central players. Similarly, it moved Arnosky back into the midfield--where she's played for most of her soccer career--and thus beefed up the Hornets' defensive presence on the flanks. As a result, Albion was only able to muster 4 second-half shots (just 2 of which were on goal), whereas Kalamazoo fired 9 shots (5 on goal) against the Britons. Not included in Kalamazoo's 5 shots on goal was a rocket that Lepper hit from about 20 yards out which hit the far post and made the entire crowd (and both benches) gasp as it missed by a mere centimeter from putting the Hornets up 2-0.

For the day, Kalamazoo held a 15-9 advantage in the shots category, although the two teams were dead even in the shots-on-goal category with 7 apiece. Berkowski posted 7 saves during the game en route to her fourth straight shutout (sixth shutout of 2005).