-- Story provided by Calvin University Athletics --
WAVERLY, Ia. – The Calvin men's soccer team booked its ticket to the Round of 16 of the NCAA III Tournament with a 4-1 second round win over Gustavus Adolphus Saturday night in second round play on the campus of Wartburg College.
Calvin will face the winner of a second round game between the University of Chicago and Ohio Wesleyan. Chicago and Ohio Wesleyan will play on Sunday with the advancing team to face Calvin next Friday at a sectional site set to be announced Sunday night.
Calvin (18-2-1) put together another high-scoring night by capitalizing on scoring opportunities.
The Knights cashed in early for the second consecutive night. After scoring in the third minute of play in a Friday win over Greenville, Calvin scored in the 13th minute against Gustavus Adolphus (11-4-7) on a goal by senior Colin Iverson (Naperville, Il./Naperville North HS). The goal came off a rebound shot in the box by senior Chris Schau (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) with Iverson sliding to the turn to smack in a half-volley into the upper corner of the net for an early 1-0 Calvin lead. The goal by Iverson was his seventh of the season.
Gustavus Adolphus tied the match 1-1 on a shot by Joe Flory in the 25th minute that found the upper corner.
Calvin pressed the attack over the final 20 minutes however and found gold in the 37th minute as Schau slipped in a shot off a feed from sophomore Hans Pruis (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) that gave Calvin a 2-1 lead heading into the break. The goal by Schau was his team-leading 15th tally of the season.
Early in the second half, Calvin grabbed a 3-1 lead on a nice one-two combination between sophomore Jacob Ryu (Naperville, Il./Naperville North HS) and senior Oliver Akintade (Lake Forest, Il./Lake Forest HS). Ryu's lead pass sprung Akintade in on goal and the winger made no mistake in slipping a shot into the far corner of the net for his 13th goal of the season.
Junior Alex White (Lake Bluff, Il./Lake Forest Academy) put the capper on the Knight win with a dipping shot from just outside the 18-yard box that found the back of the net for a 4-1 Calvin lead with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Calvin cruised from that point on to claim the tournament victory.
The two sides finished the match with 16 shots at goal apiece. Senior Daniel Wunder (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) went all 90 minutes for the Knights and collected six saves.
COACHES COMMENT: "That was a great game by our guys," said Calvin head men's soccer coach Ryan Souders. "That is an extremely talented Gustavus Adolphus team that is battled-tested and well-coached. I thought our guys rose to the occasion and played great. Thought we scored some great goals and our back line was phenomenal particularly in the air. We could have gotten down after they equalized but we came busting out in the second half and really played a great game. A credit to our guys."
