By Mark DeHaan

The Knights welcomed the Bulldogs of Adrian to Zuidema Field for a mid-week conference contest on Wednesday.

Calvin tallied the opening two goals of the game, and had a 2-1 lead after the first quarter, but Adrian responded by outscoring the Knights 8-0 in the second period to take a lead the Bulldogs would not relinquish. Adrian defeated Calvin by a final score of 15-4.

Knights freshman Tyson Butler opened up the scoring less than two minutes in. Sophomore Chris Griffin added another just 23 seconds later, and Calvin got off to a quick start.

Adrian scored its first goal with 3:38 remaining in the first quarter, and Calvin's lead stood at 2-1 as the teams headed into the quarter break.

In the second, the Bulldogs scored two goals in the opening two minutes to take a 3-2 lead.

Adrian continued to hold the Knights scoreless in the quarter while adding six more goals, and the visitors held a 9-2 lead at halftime.

The Bulldogs outshot Calvin 20-6 in the opening half. The Knights, after going 4-for-4 on face offs in the first quarter, were 1-for-9 in the second. Calvin also completed just 4-of-9 clear attempts in the first half.

Out of the break, Adrian added two more goals before Knights senior Jonathon VanderLaan found the back of the net, bringing the score to 11-3.

After a Bulldog goal to end the third, freshman Derek VanderBrug found the back of the net at the beginning of the fourth for Calvin.

Adrian then netted the final two goals of the game to down the Knights by a 15-4 final score.

The Bulldogs outshot Calvin 47-19 for the game, also holding a 39-27 ground ball advantage by game's end. Adrian won 16-of-23 face offs.

Individually for the Knights, Griffin had a goal and an assist. Senior Luke Bosscher and freshman Ethan Brown tied for the team lead with four ground balls.

Sophomore goalkeeper Mitchell Alexander made 15 saves for Calvin.

"I think we started off good and had a great first quarter, but we just have to put together a full 60-minute game," said head coach Kyle Hofstaedter. "Letting up eight goals really hurt in the second quarter, and after that I thought we played pretty even with them. Our clearing game could get a lot better, but the boys played hard and we're on to the next one."

Calvin moves to 2-9 overall and 0-2 in the MIAA with the loss, while Adrian improves to 7-4 and 2-1 in conference play.

The Knights return to action on Saturday when they travel to Albion. The weekend matchup is scheduled to start at noon.