GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Calvin closed out its regular season campaign with a 5-0 victory over Adrian Wednesday night at Calvin Soccer Stadium. The Knights improve to 13-3-1 overall and finish conference play with a 5-1-1 mark.
Calvin finishes in a tie for second place in the league standings with Albion but will be the third seed for the MIAA Tournament with Albion holding a head-to-head tiebreaker edge over the Knights. As the third seed, Calvin will host No. 6 seed Olivet Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Calvin Soccer Stadium.
In its win over Adrian on Wednesday, Calvin exploded for five second half goals to put the contest away.
Freshman
Toby Simeoni (Riverside, Australia/St. Patrick's College) put the Knights on the board with an unassisted goal two minutes into the second half, flicking in a loose ball off a goalmouth scrum for a 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, sophomore
James Jackson (Cleves, Ohio/Saint Xavier) fired in a shot from close range from the right wing off an assist sophomore
Bennett Quijano (Canton, Mich./Plymouth Salem HS). Freshman
Josh Little (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville HS) scored his first collegiate goal a few minutes later, poking in a shot from the right side of the six-yard box after receiving a ball from junior teammate
Matt Torrell (Rochester, N.Y./The Charles Finney School).
In the 78
th minute, freshman
Will Lanham (Commerce Twp., Mich./Pontiac Notre Dame Prep) ripped in an unassisted goal – his seventh of the year.
Junior
Ryan Augustyn (Westmont, Il./Benet Academy) then got into the scoring surge, tapping in a shot at the far post off a well-placed pass from freshman
Odis Fickell (Holland, Mich./Holland HS). The goal by Augustyn was the first of his collegiate career.
Senior
Zac Moore (Pilesgrove, NJ/Woodstown) went the distance in goal to pick up the clean sheet – his fourth of the season and sixth of his career. Moore was credited with two saves with the win.
In picking up the second half assist, Torrell boosted his MIAA conference points total to 14, allowing him to win the MIAA scoring title by a one-point margin. Torrell finished the MIAA season with five goals and four assists.
COACHES COMMENT: "A tale of two halves for sure," said Calvin head men's soccer coach
Ryan Souders. "There were moments in that second half that were some of the best we have been all year. Excited to be in the conference tourney and will need to be ready and hungry to get a result on the weekend."
NEXT UP: Calvin will host Olivet Saturday night at 7 p.m. in a first round MIAA Tournament contest at Calvin Soccer Stadium. Tickets can be purchased online at:
https://miaa.org/sports/2024/10/30/tickets.aspx?path=general
