The long spidery legs of sophomore Micah Beard allowed the sixth-ranked Calvin men's soccer team to slip past Kalamazoo 1-0 in overtime Saturday afternoon. Beard's goal with 2:21 left in the first overtime served as the game-winner as the Knights remain unbeaten on the year at 10-0-1 overall and on top of the MIAA standings at 6-0-0 in league play.

Calvin is now six  points clear of Alma and Kalamazoo in the league standings and now has an unbeaten streak of 30 games MIAA regular season play.

Saturday's game featured a fight for first place as the visiting Hornets (5-4-1 overall, 4-2-0 MIAA) entered just three points behind Calvin in the league standings.

Playing in blustery playing conditions, Kalamazoo had Calvin back on its heels at times in the first half with the Knights dodging bullets on a pair of occasions.

Kalamazoo's first big scoring opportunity came in the sixth minute as Joshua Robison got behind the Calvin backline and flew a shot just over the crossbar from 10 yards out. In the 31st minute, Kalamazoo's Jordan Veillette beat Calvin goalkeeper Niko Giantsopoulos (Markham, Ont./St. Augustine Catholic HS) with a short chip but Calvin defender Nick Groenewold (Oak Brook, IL/Timothy Christian HS) was able to clear the ball off the goal-line with an acrobatic flick of his right foot.

Calvin then began to control the tempo in the second half, firing off seven shots. Calvin came close in the 83rd minute on a rip by freshman Bobby McCaw (Dubuque, IA/Hempstead HS) that was deflected and went just wide of the goal.

In overtime, Calvin continued to pressure and finally broke through when freshman Jacob Witte (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian HS) was able to send a cross to the far post to the 6-5 Beard. Beard headed the cross at Kalamazoo goalkeeper Griffin Hamel who made the initial save. Using his long reach, Beard was able to poke the rebound pass Hamel into the corner of the net for his team-leading sixth goal of the year including his second game-winning goal of the week.

"It was a great win at home against a very strong Kalamazoo team," said Calvin men's soccer coach Ryan Souders. "In the first half I don't think we played the style of game that we are capable of although I credit Kalamazoo for some of that. We started to get into more a rhythm in the second half, connected a few passes and got the goal when we needed it. It's a big three points for us in the standings but we have difficult test ahead so must remain focused."

Calvin finished the game with a 13-6 shots at goal advantage including 10-2 in the second half and overtime session.

Giantsopoulos was credited with one save in picking up his seventh shutout of the season. Hamel had five saves in goal for Kalamazoo.

Calvin will now prepare to travel to Albion next Tuesday for a 4 p.m. MIAA match. Calvin will carry a 31-game unbeaten streak dating back to last year into Tuesday's contest.