Saint Mary's battles to 3-1 loss against Calvin
By SARAH RYKOWSKI
Sports Writer
If you asked the players, they wouldn't count this as a loss.
But the scoreboard told a different story, putting the Belles below the Calvin Knights, 3-1 Tuesday.
"The score might not reflect it, but this is the best game we have played all season," junior midfielder Adrian Kirby said. "And that is something in itself."
Discount five minutes in the first half, and the score may have gone the other way.
After coming out with great guns in the opening minutes, the Belles allowed a breakaway by Larissa Onderlindel to result in the first score 15 minutes into the game. Onderlindel was assisted by Tricia Dyk, who leads the Knights in points this season. Then Calvin got a penalty kick, which resulted in another goal less than a minute later. That was scored by Stephanie Fritz of the Knights. Four minutes later, Calvin got a second breakaway, and Tara Bergsma put the Knights up 3-0 in the joust with the Belles.
"The first half we had it for the first couple minutes," Jessica Klink said. "Then we let down, and I'm not sure why."
The second half was a different story altogether. In the opening seconds of that half, Stephanie Artnak took a direct penalty kick on Calvin goalie Heather Vugt, and put it high and into the net.
"The second half, we were very dominant," Klink said. "Once again Stephanie pulled through on the penalty kick."
Artnak now has three goals, all from penalty kicks, to lead the team in scoring.
The second half was played mostly in the Calvin zone.
As he did in the win against Adrian, Belles head coach Jason Miligan pulled Tia Kapphahn, the starter in net for the Belles, to send her in at forward and freshman goalie Laura Metzger to the net with 14 minutes to go. With the action mostly at the other end of the field as the Belles pressured the Calvin goalie to at least pull the tie, Metzger didn't have much work to do.
"I didn't know how extremely awesome our defense was until I was in net," Metzger said. "They were taking care of me out there."
Kapphahn made 13 saves, and the defense took care of the rest. All in all, Calvin had 25 shots on the Belles' defense, while the Belles took 10 shots and Knights netminder Vugt made eight saves.
"The second half, I thought we played really well in general," Klink said.
Heather Muth led the Belles with three shots on goal, while Artnak was second with two, including her goal. Lynn Taylor, Katie Green, Patricia Wheat, and Shawna Jiannoni each got off a shot against Calvin.
The Belles now stand at 2-2-1 in the MIAA and 2-5-1 overall.
"We're coming together as a team," Kirby said. "You could see it on the field more than ever."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, September 27, 2000
