HOLLAND, Mich. - The Kalamazoo College women's soccer team continued MIAA play on the road at Hope on Wednesday (Oct. 4). The Hornets dropped their first MIAA contest of the conference season as the Flying Dutch won 2-1.
Elle Bernas and Erin Somsel made their way into the starting lineup, joining Elana Mitchell, Maddie Coffman, Olivia DePauli, Savera Rajendra-Nicolucci, Anna Murphy, Holly Bowling, Izzy Kastel, Ruby Hogan, and Amalia Scorsone.
Kalamazoo started the game out on the defensive end as Hope shot the ball 11 times compared to three by the Hornets. Unfortunately, on the 12th shot, the Flying Dutch took a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute on a cross into the box. Play evened out for the rest of the half as Hope took a 1-0 lead into the locker room.
"Hope did well at setting the pace of play at the beginning of the game, and it was a well-earned goal in the first half," said head coach Bryan Goyings.
The script flipped to begin the second half as Kalamazoo took eight of the first nine shots in 20 minutes. In the 65th minute, DePauli scored her second goal of the season after Hogan slid a pass over to her in the box in the middle of a scrum to tie the game. The following 10 minutes were spent in the defensive zone as Hope scored the game-winning goal in the 75th minute.
Coach Goyings added, "After halftime, I felt we were much better in the second half and believed the team did a tremendous job battling to find the equalizer. It was unfortunate to give up the go-ahead goal with about 15 minutes to play, and I felt it was unfortunate we could not find the game-tying goal when their keeper tipped a shot by Izzy off the crossbar late."
Mitchell ended the game with a career-high 10 saves on 12 opportunities. Hope totaled more shots (23-15), corner kicks (8-7), and fouls (11-9), while Albion Kalamazoo finished with more saves (10-6).
"Elana was a consistent presence in the goal tonight. She had several point-blank saves and stuffed a couple of breakaways when we were pushing numbers forward late to keep the deficit at one, giving us a chance to equalize," said coach Goyings.
Kalamazoo will continue MIAA play with another road game at Olivet on Saturday (Oct. 7), beginning at 4 p.m.