The Calvin-Hope men's soccer rivalry is set to renew Wednesday night at Calvin Soccer Stadium. Match time is 7 p.m. The contest will be the first rivalry match at the fully-finished stadium although the teams played on the Zuidema Field pitch below last October. The first matches inside the dedicated stadium took place this past Saturday with the Calvin women's soccer team defeating Saint Mary's 5-0 and the Calvin men's soccer team defeating Kuyper College 7-0.

The contest will be the first league match of the 2024 MIAA season for both teams. Gates to the stadium will open at 6 p.m. with tickets available at the ticket booth or in advance online at: https://calvin.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=2088

TICKET INFORMATION:

*Tickets are $7 for General Public
*Children 12 & under are Free
*Calvin Faculty & Staff each receive 1 free ticket (with ID), and can purchase tickets for their family at a $5 rate
*Calvin Students are Free (w ID)

HOW TO WATCH/FOLLOW: The match will be live-streamed through Calvin's YouTube channel at: Calvin-Hope Live Stream. It will also feature live stats at: Calvin-Hope Live Stats Scoreboard.

ABOUT THE SERIES – Wednesday is the 113^th meeting between the two teams in a series that sees Calvin leading 65-34-13. Calvin has scored 208 goals to Hope's 121 during that span. The Knights have won the last four meetings and are 18-1-3 against Hope over the last 21 meetings. Hope's last win over Calvin was in 2013, a 3-1 win at Hope. Hope's last win at Calvin was in 2010, a 2-1 win at Zuidema Field.

LAST YEAR – The teams met just once last fall with Calvin winning 3-1 at Zuidema Field. Calvin led 2-1 only to see Hope draw a potentially game-tying penalty kick in the 88^th minute of play. The penalty kick was stopped and Calvin converted a penalty kick of its own in the final seconds of play to seal the win.

ABOUT CALVIN – Calvin comes into the match with a 7-4-0 overall record. The Knights are 6-0-0 at home this fall. The Knights have featured a balanced scoring attack with 11 different individuals netting at least one goal this season. Senior Alex White leads Calvin in scoring with nine goal contributions as he has six goals, three assists and 13 points. Freshman Colin Nieuwenhuis is next on the Calvin score sheet with nine points on the strength of four goals and one assist. Senior centerback Jacob Goodling has been a key on defense and offense. He has four goals on the year including a game-winning goal in the closing minutes of a 3-2 win over the University of Chicago last Wednesday night. Calvin's goalkeeping has been split between seniors Kaelen Matascastillo and Jacob Moore. Matascastillo has 32 saves and a goals-against-average of 1.91. Moore has a 0.61 goals-against-average and 11 saves.

THE CALVIN COACH – Calvin is led by head men's soccer coach Ryan Souders who is in his 13^th season at the helm of the Knights. Souders is a 2007 graduate of Wheaton College. At Wheaton he was the starting goalkeeper on a Thunder side that reached the Division III National Championship final in 2006. He is 227-34-13 in 13 years at Calvin and has led the Knights to 12 consecutive MIAA regular season championships. He led Calvin to the national championship final in 2016 and 2018 and to NCAA III Final Fours in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.

ABOUT HOPE – Hope comes into the match with an impressive 8-1-1 overall record. The Flying Dutchmen are currently ranked seventh nationally in the Division III United Soccer Coaches Top 25 poll released yesterday afternoon. Hope's only defeat came back on September 6 in a 2-1 loss at Ohio Northern. Hope has since recorded a 6-0-1 mark since. Freshman forward Jackson Mindling leads Hope in scoring with eight goals, two assists and 18 points. Junior Seth Walters is right behind with seven goals and 14 points. Junior Grant Hassenrik is next with four goals, two assists and 10 points. Senior midfielder Mario Hervojevic is another key player for the Flying Dutchmen. Hope's backline is paced by fifth-year senior centerback Jake Lyon. Senior Daniel Hesselbein has started in all 10 games and allowed just eight goals for a goals-against-average of 0.80. He has 29 saves on the season.

THE HOPE COACH – Hope is led by third-year head coach David Blahnik. He is 26-10-10 in three years as head coach. He previously served as head coach at Olivet Nazarene University, guiding the school to five NAIA national tournament appearances. He is a graduate of Olivet Nazarene where he was an all-conference soccer player, graduating in 2006.