In its second-to-last game of the 2002 season, the Calvin men's soccer team struggled to find an offensive rhythm as the Knights suffered a 1-0 loss at cross-town rival Aquinas College. On Wednesday afternoon, the two teams tangled once again and the outcome proved to be a far different story as the Knights rolled to a 6-2 triumph in front of a season-opening crowd at Calvin Field.
Aquinas (2-2) struck first with a goal in the ninth minute as Marko Jagustin pounced on a turnover deep in the Calvin backfield and slid a shot into a wide-open goal. Calvin (1-0) came roaring back with a pair of first half goals to take a 2-1 halftime lead. Sophomore Levi Kool (Holland Christian HS) scored Calvin's first goal off a corner kick by freshman Nick Capisciolto (Unity Christian HS) with junior Joel Vande Kopple (Grand Rapids Christian HS) also drawing an assist on the play. Calvin's second goal came off the foot of junior midfielder Joel Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD) after breaking free on a
pretty lead pass by freshman Maurice Wright (Wauwatosa, WI).
Aquinas then tied the game up at 2-2 on a Jagustin's second goal of the game which came 5:36 into the second half.
The tie would not hold up however as Calvin senior David DeBoer (Western Michigan Christian HS) ripped in a shot from the doorstep of the Aquinas goal after receiving a well-placed cross by Veldhouse. Capisciolto then picked up his first collegiate goal, lofting an arching shot from 20 yards out on a feed from Kool that skimmed just underneath the crossbar. Veldhouse and sophomore Matt Cosnek (Hopewell, PA) closed out the scoring with goals less than five minutes apart with Wright drawing assists on both plays.
Calvin finished the match with a 17-4 shots at goal advantage. Sophomore Joe Westra (Grand Rapids Christian HS) went the first 64 minutes in goal for the Knights while freshman Aaron Valberg (Seattle, WA) played the final 26 minutes and collected one save.
Calvin now breaks for nine days and returns to action on September 12 when it hosts Wilmington of Ohio at 4:00 p.m. in the first day of competition of the Cal Bergsma Memorial Tournament.
