By Mark DeHaan

The Calvin men's lacrosse team hosted the Flying Dutchmen of Hope College on Wednesday afternoon for the final home conference matchup of the year. Wednesday was also Senior Day for the Knights as Allen Bosscher (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS), Casey Harless (DeWitt/DeWitt HS), and Jon Ptashnik (New Baltimore/Anchor Bay) were recognized for Calvin.

Rival Hope got off to a strong start, and despite spirited effort from the Knights, the Flying Dutchmen worked their way to a 23-3 defeat of Calvin.

Hope played stifling defense in the opening half, holding the Knights scoreless while scoring in bunches.

At halftime, Hope led 12-0 as it held the Knights to 0-for-3 on man-up opportunities and outshot Calvin 25-15.

At the beginning of the second half, freshman Joel Schaeffer (Clarkson, MD/Annapolis Area Christian HS) scored the first goal of the game for the Knights despite being down a man.

After a three-goal response by Hope, junior Jonathan VanderLaan (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) netted another as Calvin trailed the Flying Dutchmen 15-2.

In the fourth quarter, freshman Chris Griffin (Howell/Hartland HS) added a third goal, but Hope had already built a substantial lead, and the Flying Dutchmen downed the Knights 23-3.

Hope outshot Calvin 47-35 and won the ground ball battle at 39-33 as well.

Offensively for Calvin, Schaeffer, VanderLaan, and Griffin all scored one goal apiece.

For the Flying Dutchmen, Caleb Digison had eight goals while Jacob Kamstra scored four goals and added seven assists.

"We made some mistakes early in the game, we let down a little bit, and after you let down it becomes really hard to come back from, but we're still proud of the guys for running up and down the field all game," said head coach Joel Kamstra. "The impact of our seniors is not measured in the win-loss column, but rather the culture and the work ethic they have instilled. We're definitely going to miss Casey, Al, and Jon. They've been huge for our program."

The loss drops the Knights to 2-11 and 0-5 in conference, while Hope improves to 5-8 and 2-3 in league play.

Calvin now looks forward to Saturday when the Knights will travel to Olivet for the final game of the regular season. Opening face-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.