By Paul Kluitenberg

Calvin College picked up its sixth win of the year Saturday afternoon as the Knights defeated rival Hope College 4-0 in front of nearly 1,000 fans at Calvin's Zuidema Field. The Knights are now 6-0-1 overall and 2-0-0 in the MIAA. Calvin has won eight of its last 10 meetings against Hope.

The Knights came out strong with a goal in the eighth minute of play on a header from Senior Taylor Pruis (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Grand Rapids Christian). The goal came off off a beautiful free kick from freshman defender Trent Vegter (Hudsonville, Mich. / Unity Christian). Pruis scored his third goal of the season and second of the game midway through the first half on a pass into the box from sophomore Mitch Stark (South Lyon, Mich. / South Lyon).

The Knights defense played a gritty first half not allowing a single shot from Hope College.  The stout defense allowed Calvin to maintain possession of the ball much of the first half.

Hope came out with a burst of energy in the second half maintaining possession and taking a handful of shots. However, a goal at 54:19 by senior Sam Hanover (St. Johns, Mich. / St. Johns) off a free kick from junior Stephan Hooker (Hudsonville, Mich. / Unity Christian) took the wind out of the sails of the Flying Dutchmen.

In the final moments of the game, Senior Nick Groenewold (Oak Brook, Ill / Timothy Christian) scored off a corner kick following a torrent of passes from Sophomore Matt Hinds (Frankenmuth, Mich. / Frankenmuth) and team scoring leader sophomore Micah Beard (Otsego, Mich. / Otsego).

Senior Niko Giantsopoulos had two saves in posting his fourth shutout of the season in goal for the Knights.

Calvin finished the game with a 19-9 shots at goal advantage.

Calvin men's soccer coach Ryan Souders was pleased with his team's play.

"I think right from the start we came out strong," said Souders. "Taylor Pruis came up with two big goals right away and showed senior leadership. He was tuned in and ready to go and so were the rest of our guys. Hope is a very good team and I know we will be in for a battle when we travel to their place."

Calvin returns to action next Wednesday when it travels to Alma for a 4 p.m. match that will feature two teams currently holding shares of first place in the MIAA standings.