by ross weener

Sports Editor

The Calvin men's soccer team ended their 2001 campaign with a 2-1 victory over MIAA foe Alma on Wednesday afternoon in front of a large Calvin Field crowd. The win propelled Calvin into third place by themselves, as Alma slipped a game back. The Scots could pull even with the Knights for third place but would have to do it against league champion Kalamazoo on Saturday.

Calvin fell into the hole early, going down 1-0 on a Beau Teal goal. The score originated off of a pass from Jeremiah Roberts that Teal redirected towards a wide open goal, but Calvin goalkeeper Matt Thelen using his quick speed appeared to make the amazing save. But Thelen's angle on the ball and his sideways momentum carried the ball just over the line allowing the Scots a 1-0 lead.

``I was a little worried when they got that soft goal so quick,'' head coach Dave VerMerris commented. ``It brought back memory's of the Kalamazoo game where we gave up a goal in the first 12 seconds. It put us into a little bit of a hole to start the game.''

Calvin used the fresh legs of junior Aaron Bouw to even the score, with just five minutes left in the first half. Bouw, freshly inserted into the Knight lineup used great positioning to free himself up from the defense to redirected a Geol Sceirman into the goal for his fifth goal of the year.

VerMerris said he felt pleased to go to halftime with the score 1-1. ``I felt like Alma dictated the pace of the game in the first half, it felt like we couldn't get our rhythm down. I was very pleased that Aaron could tie the game at one apiece.''

Neither team would score for the next 59 minutes as it seemed like both teams would exchange offensive rushes and then good defensive stops. Finally in the 79 th minute of regulation sophomore Marcus Decker slipped a ball to the far post beating the Alma goalkeeper and lifting the Knights to a 2-1 lead. Decker was aided by two nice touch passes, the first one from the feet of junior Charles Telep to senior Peter Knoester who slid the ball right to Decker, for his third goal of the year.

``In the second half we were able to mandate the tempo of the game,'' VerMerris added. ``Our defense was able to step up and they played awesome--we were also able to avoid some bullets.'' One of these bullets occurred near the 70 minutes mark as Alma senior Adam Sobczak missed the wide open goal from the 10-yard line by chipping a shot well over the goal. Calvin also had its opportunities to put the Scots away for good with a two goal cushion but could not make good on them. Knoester probably had the best chance to convert as he could not get a foot on a bouncing ball ten feet off the left post.

Baring a Kalamazoo loss on Saturday Calvin will finish in third place on the year. An improvement from last years fourth place finish VerMerris is looking to make next years team a contender for the league title. Although Kalamazoo has many young players that have helped them to a 16-2 season, the Hornets will loose four starting seniors next year.

VerMerris sees many areas that his team can improve to be able to contend in the coming years. ``I told the guys that every single player can do something to make themselves a better. We have had too many turnovers, too many passes to the other team. The team with the least mistakes is going to be the team that wins.''