Hornets Put Up Great Fight, But Eventually Fall to #17 Nationally-Ranked Calvin College on the Road by 3-0 Score September 23, 2006

The Kalamazoo College women's soccer team played a gutsy, hard-nosed style of defense on Saturday 9/23 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but were unable to hold off the currently-17th-ranked Knights of Calvin College, eventually falling by a 3-0 score in each team's 2006 MIAA opener.

Despite the fact that Calvin entered the contest averaging 5 goals-per-game against other MIAA teams in non-conference play (the Knights posted a 6-1 win over St. Mary's on 9/19, and a 4-0 win over Albion on 9/13), it was the Hornets who threatened to score first. Freshman midfielder Katie Manstrom hit a shot just wide of Calvin's goal from about 6-yards away in the 4th minute, after the Hornets had earned a corner kick one minute earlier and Calvin couldn't regain possession to thwart the Kalamazoo attack. The Hornets pressured Calvin's goal so much during the opening minutes of the game, in fact, that the Hornets out-shot the Knights by 6-5 margin and earned 3 corner kicks in just the first 20 minutes.

"On paper, Calvin is currently the best team in the MIAA right now," said Hornet Head Coach Laura Passage. "They're nationally-ranked, they're unbeaten, and they're scoring goals in buckets. Coming into the game, our players should have been nervous and scared... and yet they weren't. We played Calvin very evenly for the majority of the first half, and we played without fear. I was really proud of our girls. They made a statement."

It appeared as though Calvin had finally earned the game's first goal in the 24th minute, when Hornet keeper Kassie Johnston stepped off her line to make a save and Knight player Leah Scholten hit a shot that deflected off a Kalamazoo player and was bouncing slowly into a wide-open goal mouth. A Kalamazoo defender slid in from the side and cleared it just before it crossed the goal line, though, keeping the score knotted at zero. About 5 minutes later, it looked as though Calvin would score yet again when a crossed ball was knocked into the goal at the back post; the assistant referee's flag was up, however, and the goal was called back due to the player's offside position.

The Knights finally earned the game-winner in the 41st minute, just as the first half was winding down. Senior forward and 2005 MIAA Player of the Year Jill Capel received a cross from teammate Julianna Litts on the right, ran into the 6-yard-box, and the ball hit off Capel's midsection and into the goal. Just 4 minutes later, the Knights again took advantage of a crossed-ball opportunity; this time, Capel received a low, driven ball from Sarah Weesies on the opposite side of the field, and slid to get a foot on it at the back post near the 6-yard-box. The teams entered halftime seconds later with a surprising shift having occurred--a game that had been deadlocked at 0-0 was now suddenly 2-0 in Calvin's favor.

Kalamazoo regrouped at halftime, and began the second half with a renewed focus on scoring a goal to get back into the game. Almost immediately, the Hornets got a great chance to make the score 2-1 when freshman midfielder Paige Howell broke through Calvin's defense and hit a shot that went just high of the crossbar. About 10 minutes later, it truly appeared as though Kalamazoo was finally going to get its goal when sophomore midfielder Kelly Lepper broke free down the right side of the field. She drew three Calvin defenders toward her, and then calmly placed a gorgeous early cross on the ground to the far side of the field, where Howell had snuck into the 18-yard-box area. There, she received the ball with nobody between her and the Calvin goal, but her first-touch shot went straight toward Calvin's keeper, unfortunately, and the Hornets were once again turned away.

Kalamazoo's last great scoring chance came in the 69th minute, when senior forward Lizzy Hauslein earned a breakaway on a high, bouncing ball played over the Knight back line by Lepper. Hauslein ran onto the ball from behind, collected it as she entered the 18-yard-box, and had beaten the last Calvin defender... but her half-volley shot went just high of the crossbar.

Calvin earned its final goal of the game in the last 10 minutes of play, when a Knight shot hit off the crossbar and rebounded about 10 yards out where it landed at the feet of Weesies. She calmly played the ball to the far post, where it nicked off the goalpost on its way in to the goal. The game ended about 10 minutes later, with the final score at 3-0 in Calvin's favor.

"Today's result was disappointing," said Coach Passage, "but our coaching staff is really proud of the way our team played. We defended relentlessly for the entire stretch... but more importantly, we created some really good scoring chances of our own. I think we proved to ourselves that Calvin can be scored on, and that they're not superhuman. We created good stuff, and just didn't finish our chances today. I'm excited to meet up against Calvin in the MIAA tournament later this season, however. We'll be ready to finish when we do."

Kalamazoo's Kassie Johnston made 10 saves on the day, while one additional save was credited to the team for the shot in the 24th minute. Calvin had 3 keepers split time in goal and they shared the shutout, posting 3 saves along the way.

The Hornets will travel next to Tri-State Univ. (IN) for another MIAA contest on Wednesday 9/27. Kalamazoo enters the game with a .500 record (3-3-0 overall; 0-1 MIAA), while Tri-State is currently searching for its first win of 2006 (0-7-0 overall; 0-1 MIAA).

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