-- Story provided by Calvin University Athletics --
GAMBIER, Oh. – The tournament trail for the Calvin men's soccer team came to an end on Saturday as the Knights dropped a 4-0 second round match at Kenyon.
The matchup featured a pair of top-10 ranked teams as Kenyon came in ranked fifth by D3soccer.com and Calvin sixth.
Kenyon (18-1-1) used its speed up front along the wings to put the Knights on the back foot early and scored in the 17th minute with Sebastian Gaese receiving a pass near the six-yard box and hitting a point blank shot the ricocheted off Calvin goalkeeper Daniel Wunder (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) and into the net.
In the 28th minute, a Kenyon attacker drove in on the Calvin goal and a Knight defender was whistled for a foul and a subsequent red card for the slide tackle.
Calvin kept the Lords from scoring the rest of the half and came close to leveling the match in the early moments of the second half on a drive in close by junior Oliver Akintade (Lake Forest, Il./Lake Forest HS) that was pushed away by Kenyon goalkeeper Jack Pedrischi.
Calvin fired three shots at goal in the opening 12 minutes of the second half but were unable to find the back of the net.
Kenyon took a 2-0 lead on a goal by Matt Nguyen in the 54th minute and added goals in the 64th minute and 84th minute to seal the win. An additional red card to Calvin in the 64th minute left the Knights two men down for the remainder of the match.
Kenyon finished with a 26-9 shots at goal advantage. Wunder had three saves in goal for the Knights while sophomore Kaelen Matascatillo (New Kensington, Pa./Minnesota Virtual Academy) had six saves.
COACHES COMMENT: "Obviously disappointed with the result but incredibly proud of our guys," said Calvin head men's soccer coach Ryan Souders. "We knew Kenyon was talented and it was going to take our best. I felt we were hard done in some pretty crucial moments, but that's sport. I personally, leave nothing but gratitude for this group. What an incredible year. Thankful as you can imagine, in particular for our seniors. What a group – proud to know them, proud to coach them and proud to call them ours."
