HOLLAND, Mich. – An early second-half wonder strike from senior Chris Schau helped lift the Calvin men's soccer team to a 1-0 rivalry win on the road Saturday at Hope College.

The victory lifts the 11^th-ranked Knights to 10-1-2 overall and 2-0-0 in the MIAA standings, giving Calvin a two-point advantage over second place Alma. All seven teams below Calvin in the MIAA table have dropped points just two games into the league season.

Schau's goal came just 4:06 into the second half and broke a scoreless deadlock. On the scoring play, the Grand Rapids Christian High School product took a short pass, whirled, beat a defender with a nutmeg touch, picked up the ball behind the defender and curled in a blistering shot into the top right-hand shelf of the Hope goal. The goal was the team-leading ninth goal of the season for Schau and proved to be his fourth game-winner of the 2022 campaign.

Hope (3-3-5 overall, 1-1-0 MIAA) had a plethora of opportunities, outshooting Calvin 27-13. Senior goalkeeper Daniel Wunder (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) was superb for the Knights however, producing nine saves and his second clean sheet of the season.

Wunder was particularly adept in the 67^th minute when Hope's Ethan Jansen belted a shot from the right side of the box that the 6-6 Wunder deflected wide of the goal with a quick right-handed stab.

Wunder also came up big in the 26^th minute of the match as the Flying Dutchmen had a big chance in the six-yard box after a corner kick landed in front of the Calvin net. Wunder was able to stuff a Hope shot on the goal-line however to keep the game at the time, scoreless.

The victory gives Calvin five wins on the spin, heading into its Tuesday night home fixture against Alma scheduled for 7 p.m. at Zuidema Field.

COACHES COMMENT: "We survived that one. In a rivalry game, anything can happen," said Calvin head men's soccer coach Ryan Souders. "Hope is a good team and Coach Blahnik is a great coach. Honestly on the whole of the night, they (Hope) were probably better than us. We did create some dangerous chances but Hope's keeper came up with some big saves but we'll take the three (conference standing) points. Daniel (Wunder) was fantastic for us tonight and so were our two senior centerbacks which is what you need in a rivalry game. The goal from Chris (Schau) was an absolute wonder-strike. It was a huge goal. We'll enjoy this one, get rested up tomorrow and get ready for Tuesday night. We know that the game with Alma is worth the same amount of (conference) points as tonight's game so it is just as important."

NEXT UP: Calvin will host Alma next Tuesday at Alma at 7 p.m. at Zuidema Field.

Calvin-Hope Photo Gallery from 10-8-22