Box Score By Mark DeHaan
The Calvin women's soccer team hosted Adrian College on Saturday, looking to break a five-game winless streak.
Behind a two-goal, one-assist performance from junior Paige Capel (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS), and strong play by the defense, the Knights held the Bulldogs goalless while scoring four goals of their own to claim a 4-0 victory.
Although Adrian held possession early, a two-minute surge from the Knights put momentum in their favor while giving the maroon-and-gold a two goal advantage.
In the 13th minute, Calvin took the lead. Capel made a run along the edge of the box then crossed the ball into the center of the field to junior Christina Drost (Denver, CO/Denver Christian HS), who slipped the ball past the Adrian keeper for opening goal and the lead.
The Knights lead doubled in the 15th minute. Junior Taylor TenHarmsel (Holland/Holland Christian HS) passed a perfectly-weighted ball to Capel at the top of the box who beat the keeper to the ball and buried the ensuing shot.
Defensively, Calvin held Adrian to just one shot on goal in the first half, which was saved by junior keeper Emily Lawson (Westminster, CO/Pinnacle Charter).
The Knights outshot the Bulldogs 8-4 in the first half.
Out of the break, Adrian had its best scoring opportunity of the game in the 51st minute. On a counterattack, Bulldogs forward Erin Weide outran the Calvin defense but pushed her shot just wide of the goal.
The Knights responded by adding an insurance goal in the 70th minute. TenHarmsel ripped a shot from 30 yards out that was deflected by the Adrian keeper and bounced off the post, but to the feet of sophomore Allison Corp (Livonia/Stevenson HS). Corp then dropped off a pass to sophomore Carly Veenstra (North Haledon, NJ/Eastern Christian HS), who deposited the ball into the back of the net for Calvin's third goal of the ball game.
Calvin's defense continued to hold strong, and again, only allowed four total shots in the second half. The Knights then received an exclamation point in the 90th minute from Capel. Dribbling the ball at the top of the box, Capel found the lower left corner of the goal for the final goal of the game as Calvin earned a 4-0 win.
The Knights outshot Adrian 19-8 for the game, also holding a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks. Lawson made three saves to earn the clean sheet for Calvin.
"Our upperclassmen have never stopped working, and although they're familiar with different results than we've achieved to date in terms of success, I think today we finally played for 90 minutes," said head coach Mark Recker. "If we keep playing with this level of intensity and communication, things are going to go well for us. Today was the step in the right direction that we've been hoping for."
The win moves Calvin into a tie for fifth place in the conference with Adrian, as both teams have 5-6-2 conference records. The Knights improve to 6-8-2 overall while the Bulldogs move to 7-8-3 overall.
The Knights now have a tough game at Kalamazoo on Tuesday as the Hornets currently sit in second place in the MIAA standings behind Hope. Tuesday's contest is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.
