KALAMAZOO 1 HOPE 0 2OT

With less than 90 seconds to play against Hope College on Wednesday afternoon it appeared that the teams would settle for a 0-0 draw.  Well, Hornets Hilary Marusak and Jackie Short had different thoughts.  From a Hope goal kick Hilary won the ball which Jackie was able to control.  With the ball at her feet Jackie was able to create a little bit of room for herself and from about 23yds out hit ball that would end up behind the Hope keeper and the result was that Kalamazoo College 1 Hope College 0.  A feat that the Hornets had not accomplished in 8 years!!!  On a chilly October afternoon in Holland both teams battled it out in a fierce match.  Both teams would create opportunities in the first half but nothing outstanding.  In the second half K would begin to generate a couple great opportunities and would out shoot the Dutch 10-1 in that stanza.  The best chance of the half was generated when freshmen C.J. McCarthy near the endline on the right side of the penalty area played a ball back to the top of the box to an on running Maya Smolcic.  Maya hit the ball first time and had the Hope keeper beat only to have it cleared off the line by a Flying Dutch defender.  Regulation would end 0-0.  In the first overtime Kalamazoo had the best opportunities to score off three consecutive corner kicks.  The last of which sophomore defender Rachel Pitzer just missed.  In the second overtime Kalamazoo would really dictate the pace of the play and Hope struggled to get out of their own half.  K would create several opportunities which were either wide of the goal frame or blocked by the defenders.  With about two minutes to play Jackie Short was working to get past a Hope defender inside the left side of the box and played a shot which the keeper was able to make a save on.  However, the Hornets never quit and a little bit over a minute later the ball was in the net and Kalamazoo was victorious.  With the win Kalamazoo moves to third in the MIAA with a conference record of 3-1-1 and an overall record of 5-5-3.  Hope falls to 2-2-1 in the conference and 5-7-1 overall.  It's also important to recognize the corp of Hornet defenders who really limited Hope's offensive opportunitites.  Senior Anja Burk, Junior Chelsea Smith, Junior Eva Schmidt, Sophomore Rachel Pitzer, Sophomore Maggie Rogers, Freshmen Megan Burns, and Freshmen Courtney McCoy all helped Kalamazoo record their third shutout in conference play.  Kalamazoo returns to the field on Saturday as they play Olivet College in a Homecoming game scheduled for kick-off at 12pm here in Kalamazoo.

GO HORNETS!!!