GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's soccer team welcomed the Hornets of Kalamazoo for its final home match of the regular season. The Knights came into the match with a 12-0-2 overall record and a 6-0 MIAA record while the Hornets had a 4-1-1 conference record and are 7-4-3 overall.

During the first half, both teams battled to break through the opposing defense. The Hornets had a chance within the first minute of the game when they got in on goal and sent a shot toward the bottom right hand corner. However, goalkeeper Kalex Dodge (Leslie, Mich./Leslie) came up huge for the Knights as she made a diving save and fizzled out the attack. For the rest of the half, despite Calvin claiming 71% of the possession and outshooting Kalamazoo 11-1 the teams remained at 0-0 after the first forty-five minutes.

It wasn't until the 65th minute that the Knights were able to get something going when Maggie Smith (Flint, Mich./Flint Powers Catholic) dispossessed a Hornet defender deep in Kalamazoo territory. Smith gathered the ball and sent in an arching cross to the head of Mikaela Waroway (Ann Arbor, Mich./Father Gabriel Richard) who flicked it on and into the back of the net to give Calvin the 1-0 lead.

After getting the first goal the Knights kept their foot on the gas as just seven minutes later Smith once again had the ball at her feet. Once she was just outside the eighteen yard box she slipped a pass through two Kalamazoo defenders to a wide open Elie Farrell (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville) who sent a rocket past the goalkeeper to extend the Calvin lead.

The Knight defense remained unbeatable for the rest of the game and snuffed out any opportunity the Hornets tried to create. When the final whistle blew Calvin claimed the 2-0 and clinched its fourth MIAA regular season title in a row. The Knights moved to a perfect 7-0 in conference play and celebrated by lifting the trophy after the match. They also clinched the number-one seed as well as hosting duties in the upcoming MIAA Tournament which will begin in two weeks.

COACHES COMMENT: "It's really hard to win one of these things," said head coach Emily Ottenhoff when asked about the Knights MIAA regular season title. "Really, really happy for our team and I think that they worked really hard this season. They've earned it. We got one more to go through and we've still got to finish this thing out. We have another tough match on Tuesday against a good Albion team so, game on."

UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Tuesday, October 24th when the travel to Albion for their final match of the regular season.