Wheaton, Ill. – The Calvin men's soccer team kept up its torrid offensive pace with a 7-0 non-conference victory at Wheaton College Saturday night.
Calvin entered the game ranked sixth nationally in scoring offense, averaging 3.67 goals-per-game.
Ranked 15
th nationally, the Knights doubled their scoring average with two goals in the first half and five in the second half to stretch their winning streak to seven games, improving to 8-1-1 overall.
Calvin struck just 1:48 into the match as junior
Colin Nieuwenhuis (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian HS) followed in a rebound in the box and smashed in his sixth goal of the season.
In the 28
th minute, sophomore
Pol Sabe (Barcelona, Spain Col-legi Montserrat) blasted in a shot that deflected off a defender and in with senior
Chase Alexandre (Brighton, N.Y. Brighton) drawing an assist on the play.
After securing a 2-0 halftime lead, Calvin refused to take its foot off the gas pedal in the second half.
Alexandre connected on a penalty kick a minute-and-a-half into the second half for his fifth goal of the season and a 3-0 lead.
Three minutes later, senior
Matt Torrell (Rochester, N.Y. The Charles Finney School) curled in a shot for his sixth goal of the season. The play began near the left side of the 18-yard box with Torrell beating a defender with a shifty inside-outside move and finding the net from a tight angle.
In the 78
th minute, senior
Hans Pruis (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) ignited a fast break and slipped a pass to senior
Foster Garrett (Canton, Mich./Salem HS) that Garrett whipped into the net for a 5-0 Calvin lead.
Less than a minute later, Garrett found the back of the net again, stealing a ball off the foot of a Wheaton defender, deking the goalie and roofing a shot into a wide-open net for his second goal of the season and a 6-0 lead.
Calvin closed out the scoring in the 87
th minute when an attacker was tripped in the box and freshman
Max Bailey (Portage, Mich./Portage Central HS) followed by smartly depositing a penalty kick into the corner of the goal.
Calvin finished with a 30-7 shots at goal advantage against the Thunder (3-7-1).
Junior
John Hargett (Powell, Oh./Olentangy HS) collected two saves and the clean sheet in goal for Calvin. He preserved the shutout with a save near the six-yard box off a point-blank shot by a Wheaton attacker in the second half.
Saturday's match marked a return to Wheaton for Calvin head men's soccer coach
Ryan Souders who was a starting goalkeeper for the Thunder including on their 2006 team that finished as national runners-up. Calvin had dropped both prior meetings to Wheaton under his tenure, a 3-1 defeat in 2012 and a 3-2 loss in 2014.
Saturday's victory marked Calvin's first at Wheaton since 2010. It was just Calvin's seventh win all-time against Wheaton in men's soccer as the Thunder lead the all-time series 34-7-3. It marked Calvin's highest margin of victory against Wheaton and also marked the second time in the long-standing non-conference series that the victor won by a seven-goal margin. Wheaton defeated Calvin 8-1 in 1979.
COACHES COMMENT: "Throught we were really good from start-to-finish tonight," said Souders. "Couple of early goals really set the tone but felt guys did a great job of executing in moments and ways that we'd talked about. Now we turn to a tough MIAA schedule. Adrian away is a very tough opener and we'll have to prepare accordingly. As always, what a showing from Knight Nation tonight on the road! Incredible support as always. We certainly felt it. Great day to be a Knight!"
NEXT UP: Calvin returns to action on Wednesday when it opens its MIAA campaign at Adrian with a 4 p.m. start time.
