Calvin finally got the break Coach Chris Hughes was waiting for as the Knights beat rival Hope College 1-0 Saturday's afternoon at Calvin's Zuidema Field. The victory was Calvin's first over Hope at home since 2004. 

"This team has been battling so hard with the stats in our favor in the past [eight games] we've played," Hughes said. "It's good to get a break. The kids work so hard, it's good to see the ball go in the net." 

Calvin, who had out shot every opponent on its schedule, had only scored only one goal and was 1-4-0 in its last five games.  

In the 48th minute, freshman back Scott Hooker (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) beat a Hope defender in the corner and found the head of sophomore back Luke Holtrop (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) with a beautiful chip past Hope goalkeeper Jordan Goorhouse. Holtrop was left open on the far post and put the header in the net for his first goal of the season. A year ago he had two goals as a midfielder, but he was moved to stopper to fill the void left by Maurice Wright, now an assistant coach. 

"We realeased Holtrop [from the stopper position] the last two games," Hughes said. "He had the ability to go as forward as possible into our offense. Releasing him creates more offense in the middle of the field for us."  

Escalating the rivalry even further was the fact that both teams lost their MIAA conference openers and desperately needed a win to stay in the hunt for the MIAA title. Hope, the defending conference champion, falls to 0-2 in league play while Calvin evens its record at 1-1 and is now in a four-way tie for third place in the MIAA standings. 

"We had to come out and prove ourselves," Hughes said. "Both teams really needed that three points today that come with a win and definitely during a Calvin-Hope game, you have to protect your home turf." 

Protecting Calvin's home turf today in a huge way was junior goal keeper Darrin Cline (Grandville HS) who collected fives saves and posted his second shutout victory of the year on Saturday. 

"The Hope coaches [asked], 'What did we say to Cline at halftime?' because he was unreal in [the second half]," Huges said. "He's just an incredible athlete and he was playing at a higher level in the second half. If you look at the game as a whole he got the job done." 

Cline who was in for the injured Dave Fortosis (West Chicag, IL/ Wheaton Academy) finished the game with five saves and saw 14 Hope shots come towards his goal. Calvin was out shot for the first time this season 14-12.  

Not only did Calvin have to fend off a Hope offense that scored 52 goals a season ago to lead the league, they had to play the final 25 minutes a man down after back-to-back yellow cards sent a player to the bench. 

"The players have played their hearts out every game this year and they just work hard," Hughes said of his team's ability to play with Hope despite being a man down. "It's just a group of kids who want it and want it badly and today they found the back of the net and they were rewarded for it." 

After Calvin scored in the 48th minute they did not sit back and play defense, but instead conitued to attack. Jared Litty (Hudsonville/Hudsonville) and Michael Holwerda (Grand Rapids/ Grand Rapids Christian) both had shots from inside the six blocked that nearly put the Knights up by two goals late in the game. 

"The flow of play was even," Hughes said. "So instead of dropping into a shell and having ten minutes of misery from the sidelines watching balls being shot at your net we just continued play and ran one striker up top to just force something and it panned out." 

Calvin's continued pressure kept the field spread, but Hope nearly tied the game twice in the final minutes. A shot missed just wide right in the 75th minute and Hope's Kevin Bartosek was stuffed by Cline after he broke free in the 82nd minute. 

It was the first time these two teams have met this early in the season since the 2002 season when Hope opened up its MIAA schedule with a 3-2 win over Calvin. 

The Knights have been struggling with finishing on the many opportunities they create all season. 

"We needed to anticipate," Hughes said. "We did a much better job anticipating today what was happening." 

Perhaps expected, but there was a total of 26 fouls for Hope and 18 for Calvin called in the game.  

"They're a physical team, we knew that," Huges said. "The Calvin-Hope rivalry is one of those games where it's not always the most beautiful game. It's a physical battle and we don't have a real big team - that's something we had to watch for. But our guys battled. They battled in the air, they battled on the ground. We had to get the possession game going, we had to counter them as much as they countered us." 

Calvin's next game will be at Olivet on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. The Comets are 1-1-0 in the MIAA as well.