GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Calvin women's soccer advanced to the MIAA Tournament Championship game with a 1-0 victory over Albion at Zuidema Field Thursday evening.

The beginning of the game saw the Britons controlling the possession on the Knights' half of the field in the early minutes. Albion had a pair of early corner kicks, but Calvin's defense held strong. Senior goalkeeper Amy Kliewer (Grand Rapids, MI / Forest Hills Northern) made an early save for the Knights and they started to put solid possessions together on Albion's side of the field.

In the next twenty minutes of play, Calvin outshot Albion 7-1 and started to take control of the game. Senior Jessica Paulson (Plymouth, MI / Plymouth Christian) had a shot just outside on the box and it went wide left. A few minutes later, Calvin went on offense and freshman Elizabeth Williams (Grand Rapids, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) had a great shot that the Albion goalkeeper was able to deflect away.

The Knights had one closer attempt with freshman Sophie Mueller (North Muskegon, MI / North Muskegon) running it in the box and taking the shot, but the Albion keeper made another save. Halftime came with the score level at 0-0. Calvin outshot Albion 9-2 in the first half.

The second half had the Knights coming out of halftime with energy. They started to put the pressure on Albion and created early shots. Mueller almost put one away on a breakaway, but Albion's keeper made the key save. The Britons weren't backing down as they countered and had a great look, but Kliewer made a diving saving to keep it 0-0 with about thirty-five minutes left regulation.

Calvin was knocking on the door to score and finally broke through with just under thirty minutes left in the game. Senior Maria VanderLei (Grand Rapids, MI / Grand Rapids Christian) scored off a corner with the ball bouncing around in the front of the goal and VanderLei popping in the rebound for her first goal of the season. The Britons struggled to gather possessions on the offensive end moving forward.

The Knights continued to add more pressure and were getting great looks in the final fifteen minutes of the game. Albion had one more good opportunity with about three minutes left in game, but Kliewer made another fantastic save. The Knights outshot the Britons 21-6 on the evening and Calvin held on to win 1-0 and advance to the MIAA Tournament Championship.

Calvin will host Kalamazoo Friday evening for the MIAA Tournament crown at 7 p.m. at Zuidema Field. Kalamazoo was a 2-0 winner over Hope in the other MIAA Tournament semifinal game Wednesday evening.

COACHES COMMENTS: "It feels good to get a tournament result tonight," said Head Coach Emily Otthenhoff." Albion is a strong team which once again put a lot of pressure on us. Credit to our group for continuing to push for a goal. We have a quick turnaround for our next match, we'll need to bring our best on Friday against Kalamazoo."