GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's soccer team continued its MIAA conference schedule as it welcomed the Thunder of Trine to Zuidema Field. After a quiet first half, both teams came alive in the last fifteen minutes of play in what would prove to be an exciting Calvin victory.
 
After today's match the Knights improved to a 7-4 overall record while moving to 3-0 in MIAA play while Trine fell to 5-3-3 overall and 1-1 in conference matches. 
 
In the first half the match was mostly played in the middle of the field as both teams battled for possession. The Knights' best chance came in the 29th minute when the ball found junior forward Mikaela Waroway (Ann Arbor, Mich./Father Gabriel Richard) near the top of the eighteen-yard box. She showed off some shiftiness when she spun around a Thunder defender before firing off a shot toward goal.
 
Unfortunately, the Trine keeper put herself in position to easily make the save and the game remained dead locked at 0-0. After one half of the play the Knights had out shot the Thunder 4-3 while senior goalkeeper Kalex Dodge (Leslie, Mich./Leslie) had notched two saves.
 
In the second half, the Knights had several chances on goal including a play where a last second sliding save from a Trine defender was the only thing keeping a shot from Ellery Boeving (Howell, Mich./Elk Rapids) out of the back of the net.
 
Finally, in the seventy-fifth minute, the Thunder broke open the scoring when a perfectly executed corner kick allowed them to take the 1-0 over Calvin.
 
However, in the 78th minute, the Knights saw an opportunity to respond when they earned a corner kick of their own. As the ball was sent into the box, it bounced off several bodies before spilling out to the feet of senior CeCe McCarthy (Ypsilanti, Mich./Father Gabriel Richard). She took one touch before spinning around and firing a shot into the back of the net to even the game at 1-1.
 
Now, with momentum on their side the Knights kept the pressure on the Thunder defense as they pushed the ball into Trine territory. In the 80th minute, the Trine keeper had a great save but could not control the ball as it sputtered towards senior Elie Farrell (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) at the six-yard box. Not one to waste an opportunity, Farrell wasted no time firing off a shot and hitting the back of the net to give Calvin its first lead of the game.
 
For the last ten minutes, the Knights packed in defensively and when the final whistle blew, Calvin walked away with the hard-fought victory. Calvin out shot Trine 14-8 while Dodge finished the evening with three saves.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "That's a really big result for our team tonight!" said head coach Emily Ottenhoff. "Trine is a great team, they make it very difficult to break them down and scored a great header to go up. Credit to our women for staying focused and on the attack to bring the game back quickly, then find the go-ahead goal soon after."
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will be back in action on Saturday, October 11th when they travel to take on Olivet at noon.