The nationally-ranked Calvin men's soccer team extended its win streak to eight games and its unbeaten streak to 13 games with a 4-0 victory over visiting Olivet Wednesday afternoon at Calvin Field. The victory was Calvin's sixth consecutive shutout including its seventh shutout victory in its last eight games. 

Ranked fourth in the latest Division III Top-25 poll, Calvin (11-0-1 overall, 6-0-0 MIAA) also remains three points ahead of second place Hope (5-0-0 MIAA) in the league standings as the Flying Dutchmen defeated Alma 1-0 on Wednesday. Hope has played one less conference match than Calvin however. Hope will host Kalamazoo on Saturday while the Knights have a bye. Calvin will then travel to Hope next Tuesday for a 4:00 p.m. contest in a match that will have first place implications in the conference standings. 

Calvin dominated Wednesday's contest against Olivet (2-5-3 overall, 0-4-0 MIAA) but it took the Knights more than 56 minutes to finally score. 

Calvin outshot Olivet 17-4 in the first half but put only six of the shots on goal. Calvin took advantage of an Olivet foul just outside the penalty box to score its first goal as junior Kurt Visker (Grand Rapids Christian HS) sent a free kick into the box. Senior Joel Vande Kopple (Grand Rapids Christian HS) was able to redirect the pass to the feet of sophomore Nate Kooi (Lynden, WA) who popped in a shot just inside the far post to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. 

Visker then flashed his powerful right foot 10 minutes later as he jumped on a loose ball just past midfield, took a dribble and then cracked a 45-yard blast that knuckled just underneath the crossbar for his second goal of the year. 

Senior Joel Veldhouse (Sioux Falls, SD) picked up his team-leading 12th goal of the year with just under 10 minutes remaining as he curled in a free kick from the 25 yard line around a wall of defenders and into the right hand side of the goal. Veldhouse has now collected at least one point in seven straight games and has scored at least one goal in six of the seven. 

Calvin's final tally came off the foot of sophomore David Holwerda (Grand Rapids Christian HS) who was able to break free on a bouncing ball in the box and whip in a low hard shot to the far post with just 11 seconds remaining. The goal was the third of the year for Holwerda. 

Calvin finished the match with a 33-5 shots at goal advantage but just 13 of the shots were on goal. 

Calvin junior Joe Westra (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and freshman Dave Fortosis (Wheaton, IL) combined on the shutout in goal for the Knights with Westra collecting one save.