News Release
Tie Gives Calvin NCAA Bid
Calvin fell 3-2 to Albion in a shootout in the MIAA tournament championship game, but in doing so captured enough points to win its third straight league title and advances to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year as well.
"The bottom line is we were glad that we protected what our advantage was [toward the regular season title]," Coach Mark Recker said. "[We] would have loved to have the tournament championship too, but as it is it's a tribute to Albion they played a hard game."
Heading into the tournament championship, Calvin sat eight points ahead of second place Albion, but needed a win or tie to capture the league title as the tournament title game was worth nine points toward the regular season standings. By forcing a shootout, Calvin was guaranteed at least one-third of the points based on league rules that give the loser of the shootout three points and the winner six points.
"It put a lot of pressure on us with the way we've arranged the tournament," Recker said. "The risk was more for us than it was for Albion; they had nothing to lose."
Carly Prins (Hudsonville/ Unity Christian) scored the first shot of the penalty kick shootout, but Calvin hit two posts on its next two shots with an opportunity to stay ahead. Goal keeper Alyssa Bergsma (Walker/ Calvin Christian) kept the Knights in it saving Albion's first two penalty kicks that were kicked right at her. However, on the third penalty kick, with Calvin up 1-0, she was frozen by an excellent shot to the corner by Albion's Katie Mills who had been outstanding for the Britons all game.
In the fourth round of the shootout, Allison Boender (Grandville/Calvin Christian) matched Mills' shot to put Calvin up 2-1, but Lisa Dorr tied it up immediately after that for the Britons. Both Calvin and Albion missed off of the post and crossbar respectively in round five. Albion goal keeper Catlin Bowman picked up her first save of the shootout in the sixth round and Sarah Christian made good on her opportunity to win the tournament title for the Britons with a nice shot to the upper ninety.
"We had control early of the [shootout] and let it slip off," Recker said. "The last shot was a good save [by the Albion keeper]."
Calvin is now 0-3 in shootouts in the past three years, falling to Ohio Wesleyan in the first round of the 2005 NCAA tournament and losing to national runner up Messiah College in the NCAA quarterfinals a year ago.
"You always like to end your season on a positive note and the positive note was that we had a very young club that played very hard through the whole season," Recker said.
Calvin had by far its most difficult game in the league this season as they had gone a perfect 10-0-0 in the regular season and beat Olivet 3-1 in the first round of the MIAA tournament and defeated Hope 5-1 in the MIAA tournament semi-final game. Calvin had only one overtime game this season prior to this afternoon's game against Albion and that was a 1-0 win at Kalamazoo.
First half play was by no means lopsided, but the Knights did hold an 8-2 shots at goal advantage in the first half. Calvin had a goal negated after a late whistle on Natalie Veurink (Spring Lake/ Western Michigan Christian) who fed Prins with a cross for an easy goal. Calvin had several other chances, but was unable to convert as the game remained scoreless through the first half of play. Bergsma recorded only one save in the first half.
"We've been a very young squad that has had a number of opportunities throughout the season in front of the net and not only efficiently managing our opportunities," Recker said. "That's part of a growing squad we're learning how to finish and play under pressure and this was a huge under pressure kind of performance today."
Calvin's best chance of the second half came in the 53rd minute when Prins had an open shot saved and a header blocked in front of an open goal. Albion really had only one dangerous scoring chance in regulation and that came with 12 minutes remaining when striker Ali Oatley got past a Calvin defender, but goal keeper Kayla Sulzer (St. Charles, MO/ Whitfield) came up with her only save of the second half.
"They had the energy and kept that energy for a large part of the game and we just missed our opportunities," Recker said. "They were committed to a high energy level defensive game and they rely on their goal keeper who is a very good goalkeeper." Bowman totaled nine saves and two in the shootout for the Britons.
Calvin, needing only a tie to secure the league title, came out more defensive in the overtime periods.
"You play for avoiding a defensive lapse," Recker said. "Was there any advantage to us throwing numbers forward and then losing the game because we were out of position? No, then we lose both the championship of the league and the tournament. Did we want to win? Yes, we were going to attack with the two or three that we're keeping high and wait for [Albion] to make mistakes."
As a result, Albion had several scoring chances in the extra periods. The most dangerous of those came right before the end of the second overtime when Juliana Litts (Alexandria, VA/ Thomas Jefferson) blocked a Chelsea Grey shot off a would-be corner kick assist for the Britons.
"You rely on your upperclassman to get you through [the season]," Recker said. "[Litts] knows what to do in pressure situations; she's bright in that regard."
Recker also had praise for sweeper Ashley Bolen (Urbana, IL/ Urbana). "Bolen has been tough all season long basically saying no to any penetration and shots on frame. I thought her several last minute toe pokes that cleared balls away from strikers were critical through the end of the game."
Calvin posted a 22-7 shots at goal advantage prior to the shootout, but was unable to capitalize through 120 minutes of play.
"When you look at the overall play I thought we were a little off in terms of the rhythm together as a team," Recker said. "Apart from that I was really proud that they hung in there and kept fighting and fighting. We've been doing that all season and you have to give credit to your defense for maintaining the shutout."
The MIAA title was Calvin's sixth overall including its third straight. The seeding for the NCAA tournament will be announced Monday.
Submitted 2007-11-03 20:04:26 by Calvin College Sports Information Department
