GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Today the Calvin women's lacrosse team welcomed the Bulldogs of Adrian College to Zuidema Field for the semifinal round of the MIAA Tournament presented by Collegiate Credit Union.
 
The No. 2 seeded Knights wasted no time getting things rolling when senior Audrey Booher (Fishers, Ind./Heritage Christian) found the back of the net off an assist from sophomore Delaney Johnson (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake) less than one minute into play.
 
Senior Morgan Bethard (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt) notched her first goal of the afternoon at the 13:28 minute mark in the first quarter off an assist from junior Megan Gibbs (Perrysburg, Oh./Perrysburg) before the Bulldogs bit back with a goal of their own to make the score 2-1. Bethard and Booher each tallied one more goal in the first quarter which ended with Calvin having a 4-3 lead.
 
The Knights really showed off their offensive fire power in the second quarter when they outscored the Bulldogs 5-1 and claimed a 9-4 halftime lead. Calvin outshot Adrian 20-7 in the first thirty minutes while also forcing the Bulldogs into making fourteen turnovers. 
 
The third quarter proved to be more of a low scoring affair as the Knights' Booher and Gibbs each found the back of the net and Calvin headed into the final fifteen minutes with 11-5 lead. 
In the fourth quarter, all it took was one minute of play for Booher to score her fourth goal of the evening to stretch the Knights lead to seven. 
 
However, with their season hanging in the balance, the Bulldogs refused to yield and tried to get momentum on their side when they went on a 2-0 scoring run. With eleven minutes left in the game Booher weaved through traffic and found the back of the net once again to give Calvin more of a cushion. Down the stretch, Adrian tried to bounce back when they finished the game with three unanswered goals, but the deficit proved to be too great and Calvin picked up the 13-10 victory.
 
Calvin finished the day out shooting the Bulldogs 33-22 while also collecting twenty-three ground balls compared to Adrian's fourteen. Booher finished with a team high five goals and two assists while Bethard was close behind with four goals and two ground balls. 
 
Junior Alex Petrusha (Milford, Mich./Milford) led the team with three caused turnovers while Gibbs finished with two goals and a team high five draw controls. In goal, junior Hannah Rizzo (Waterville, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) notched a team seven ground balls and six saves.
 
COACHES COMMENTS: "Survive and advance," said head coach Blake Boehm. "It wasn't our best showing, but we were able to hold on to an early lead and put the game away. Plain and simple we've proven that we are a more disciplined and tactical team than we showed today. We played anxiously and hurried, and it almost cost us. We've got a lot of work to do to be ready for Friday."
 
UP NEXT: With tonight's victory the Knights advanced to the MIAA Tournament Championship where they will take on No. 1 seeded Hope College. The game will take place in Holland, Michigan on Friday, May 1st at 4 PM.