By Mark DeHaan

Calvin women's soccer hosted the Thunder of Trine on Saturday afternoon. The 18th ranked Knights entered the contest at 7-1-1 in the MIAA and atop the conference while Trine came in at 1-8-0 in league play. Calvin defeated the Thunder earlier this season 4-0 at Trine.

On Saturday, Calvin again downed the Thunder, earning a 3-1 win.

The Knights opened up the scoring in the 18th minute. Off of a Trine goal kick, senior Heidi Scholten collected the ball and sent sophomore Paige Capel through the Thunder defense on a run, which set her up one-on-one with the keeper. Taking one touch forward, Capel slipped the ball past the Trine keeper, giving Calvin a 1-0 lead.

In the 41st minute, Scholten scored a goal of her own, taking a pass from sophomore Jenna Bouwer in the middle of the box and finding the back of the net.

The Knights took the 2-0 lead into halftime, as well as an 11-0 shots advantage.

In the second half, Calvin didn't waste any time adding an insurance goal. Just 30 seconds in, senior Paige Rindels hit a curling shot from the top of the box toward the far post that caught far netting for a 3-0 Knights advantage.

Trine responded in the 75th minute as Skylar Reed broke through the Calvin defense and hit the back of the net, cutting the Knights lead to 3-1.

The Thunder would not get any closer, however, as Calvin's defense shut down the Trine offense the remainder of the game as the Knights claimed a 3-1 victory.

Calvin outshot Trine 24-2 in the contest while also holding a 6-0 edge in corner kicks.

"Coming off two very large wins in a row, I think it's a good lesson that there has to be a focused effort every time we come out on the field," said head coach Mark Recker. "It behooves us to take one game at a time rather than look at what we want at the end (of the season). When we can keep that our focus, I think we can bring more of our presence to each game, so I think that is what will be our focus as the rest of the season unfolds."

Calvin moves to 11-1-1 and 8-1-1 in conference with the win, while Trine falls to 2-10-0 overall and 1-9-0 in the MIAA.

The Knights now look forward to a tough non-conference contest against the #1 Thunder of Wheaton College when they travel to Wheaton on Tuesday evening. Calvin's game against the Thunder is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CST).