GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's soccer team kicked off their NCAA DIII Tournament campaign as they welcomed the Panthers of Greenville to Calvin Stadium.
 
As the match got underway it proved that it would shape up to be exactly what you would expect from a NCAA Tournament game. The teams were evenly matched as attackers from both teams wasted no time testing the opposing defense. However, halfway through the half the Knights caught the first break of the game when sophomore Katherine Bergman (Farmington Hills, Mich./Farmington) collected the ball in between the center circle and the eighteen yard box.
 
With several Panther defenders closing in Bergman showed off her leg as she sent a rocket towards the goal. The diving Greenville goalkeeper got just enough of a touch on it to send it high as the ball deflected off the bar. However, fifth year senior Lindsey Houtsma (Grandville, Mich./Calvin Christian) was right there to clean up as she buried a wide-open shot to give Calvin the 1-0 lead.
 
At the end of the first half, the Knights had outshot Greenville 14-1 with six of those shots recorded as shots on goal. 
 
In the second half, Calvin got things rolling quickly as Houstma received a cross from Sophie Mueller (North Muskegon, Mich./North Muskegon) inside the six-yard box. Houstma's first shot was blocked by a Panther defender as was her second attempt. However, the ball ricocheted to the feet of junior Elie Farrell (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) who finished the job as she sent the ball into the back of the net to extend the Calvin lead.
 
Three minutes later the Knights kept the momentum on their side as Mueller found sophomore Mikaela Waroway (Ann Arbor, Mich./Father Gabriel Richard) in the middle of the eighteen-yard box. Forgoing a settling touch, Waroway sent a dime right over the head of the Greenville goalkeeper to bring the Calvin lead to 3-0.
 
With just fifteen minutes left in the half, Calvin put an exclamation mark on the day when freshman Vivian Nagelkirk (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) received the ball five yards outside the eighteen-yard box. With three Panther defenders closing in she took one touch before sending the ball soaring into the top right corner to make the score 4-0.
 
On defense, the Knights were a brick wall as they quickly snuffed out any chances that the Greenville attackers attempted to create. When the final whistle blew, senior goalkeeper Kalex Dodge (Leslie, Mich./Leslie) only had to make one save as Calvin secured the 4-0 win to advance to the next round of the tournament.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "Congrats to Greenville on a really good season," said head coach Emily Ottenhoff. "They came in with a good game plan to try and be disruptive which they definitely did. I think we've talked about how different things do different things to challenge us and they challenged us to move the ball quicker and be more assertive. After making some adjustments at halftime resulted in us getting that goal quick in the second half which really just opened things up for us."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action tomorrow when they take on Chicago for the NCAA Regional Championship tomorrow at 5PM. The winner will advance to the round of sixteen in the NCAA Tournament.