Albion 0 Kalamazoo 0 (Albion 5 Kzoo 4)

After scoreless regulation and overtime the Hornets were stung by Albion in the shootout by a score of 5:4.  The shootout loss bring to end a tremendous season by the Kalamazoo Women who finish with an overall record of 8-6-5.  The team made extraordinary progress since the beginning of the season and will celebrate the success of the team tomorrow at the program's banquet.

Tournament Final

What: MIAA Tournament Championship Match

Kalamazoo College (8-6-4) v Albion College (9-4-5)

When: 12:00pm Saturday, November 7th

Where: Clark W. Mackenzie Field Kalamazoo College

GO HORNETS!!!

Semifinal Upsets Create Historical MIAA Final

Up until this year, no team seeded lower than third had advanced to play in the championship game of the MIAA women's soccer tournament. On Saturday, two teams seeded lower than third will battle for the tournament championship and an NCAA Division III Tournament berth, as fourth-seeded Kalamazoo (8-6-4) hosts sixth-seeded Albion (9-4-5) at noon. In Tuesdays's semifinals, the Hornets stunned top-seeded Calvin in a shootout, 3-1, after the two teams played to a scoreless tie through two overtimes. Meanwhile, the Britons eliminated second-seed Adrian, 1-0, in overtime.
The preceding was taken from the conference's website, (always important to cite the appropriate sources, www.miaa.org)

Thursday training consisted of a variety of activities.  The warm-up focused on headers and once the team was able to get a stretch they played a 2v2 heading game in which Senior's Katie Manstrom and Anja Burk would be declared champions after three rounds of play.  Then 10 minutes rehearsing a number of set pieces.  After the set pieces the team moved on to a 4v4+3 ball winning activity.  This progressed into 15 minutes of 10v10 with a focus on finding the midfielders feet.  Practice would end with five minutes of breakaway fitness and PKs.  Less than 48hrs until Saturday's kick-off.  Coach Roschek (A K grad) from Albion was on campus for conference business even had a chance to walk the field and proclaimed, "It's in great shape!"

GO HORNETS!!!

Key Components

 Seniors, Katie Manstrom, Anja Burk, and Paige Howell

Lost in the shuffle of the last couple of games, some great results the Hornets have not seen in several years was that 3 very important players were honored a week ago before the final regularly scheduled home game.  These three individuals have meant quite a bit to the Kalamazoo College Women's Soccer program over the past three years.

The Kalamazoo College, class of 2010 arrived on campus in the August of 2006 and joined a women’s soccer program that was struggling to find leadership and consistency. In the four years previous to their careers the Kalamazoo College women’s soccer team had not recorded better than a 5th place finish in the MIAA. During their four years here they have helped restored a respect for the women’s soccer program here at K. Their class accomplishments include helping earn the program’s 300th win, two league finishes of third place or better in the past three years and an opportunity to record the program’s best league finish in the past eight years this season. There is no question that after their last practices have passed and final minutes wind down in their careers that the class of 2010 has been a key component to constructing a foundation of leadership and consistency that has allowed the Hornets to be successful this year as well as in the seasons to come. Let’s take a minute now to meet these outstanding individuals.

 #8, A Senior Captain from Huntington Woods, MI: Paige Howell
Primarily an outside midfielder Paige has played three years for the Hornets. Her junior season she spent studying abroad and playing soccer in Ecuador. Her career statistics included 6 goals and 8 assists for a total of 20pts. Paige is best known for her tireless work attacking down the wing, serving in dangerous balls, and also making those long recovery runs on defense. She is the type of player that never wants to come off the field and has to be dragged off. Her leadership has also been important to the success of the current team in that she is always looking to make herself and her teammates better. She is player that has a great passion for the game of soccer whether it cheering on her beloved Liverpool or dueling it out at practice. In the spring Howell will graduate with a biology major and concentration in environmental science.

#13, A Senior Captain from Kalamazoo, MI: Katie Manstrom

A local product from Kalamazoo Central High School, Manstrom is a four year starter in the midfield for the orange and black. She has played minutes as both a center mid and outside mid. Katie possesses strong ball control and vision, often serving as a catalyst for initiating the Hornet attack out of the midfield. During her career she has scored 11 goals and been credited with 9 assists for a total of 31 points. As well as Katie’s work on the field she has also made numerous contributions to the program in a number of other ways. Coordinating off season playing opportunities, working soccer camp, helping out in the office, Kaite has been committed to not only making herself better but also providing the best experience for her teammates. Growing up in Kalamazoo she has also helped get local support most likely accounting for the greatest number of fans at home games over the past four years. Manstrom is a senior psychology major.

#23, A Senior from Saline, MI: Anja Burk

Burk has been one of the most consistent defenders to have played for the Hornets in the past decade. A three year starter, Anja spent her junior year studying abroad in France. She has seen time as an outside back and center back. Known for her durability she has only missed one game in her career. Possessing a very quiet personality Anja is fierce competitor who rarely makes it easy for the opponent or her teammates at practice. On the field she is rarely out of position and also possesses one of the best headers on the team. As a defender she has not accumulated any offensive statistics at this time but was recently named MIAA player of the week for her defensive performance against Hope and Olivet. Burk has also taken her relentless work ethic to the classroom and will graduate in the spring with a major in Biology.
The Hornet soccer program is grateful for the contributions of these three superb young women and wishes them continued success this year and also with all their challenges and endeavors after graduation. Thank You and Good Luck, Kalamazoo Class of 2010!

GO HORNETS!!!

Kalamazoo 0 Calvin 0 (Kzoo 3: Calvin 1)

 Sophomore Julia Schroeder recorded the game clinching penalty

After playing 110 minutes of scoreless soccer Kalamazoo and Calvin would use a shootout to determine which team would advance to the MIAA championship game.  In a trip to Calvin earlier this year Kalamazoo struggled early on giving up two goals in their first 10 minutes of play before getting a goal from Jackie Short and testing the Knights several times in the second half.  This chapter of the match-up would begin a little bit differently.  The Hornets would be able to find some possession and attack at the beginning of the first half but Calvin would prove to be a very formidable opponent as always, creating several decent scoring opportunities as the half would progress.  The teams would enter halftime scoreless.  In the second half Calvin would continue to control play but the Hornet backline of Eva Schmidt, Anja Burk, Chelsea Smith, and Rachel Pitzer and keeper Courtney McCoy would hold tough.  The best chance for either team would take place with seven minutes to play.  A Calvin corner kick played into the box would bounce around before it was corralled by one of the Knights who took a shot.  Schmidt, stationed on the near post would clear the ball off of the goal line, the initial clearance was played back into the box and fired once again at Schmidt who would make the save again and clear the ball out of danger.  Regulation would end scoreless as would 2 ten minute overtime sessions which meant the game ended in a tie and a winner would be determined via penalty kick shootout.  Winning the toss Kalamazoo decided to shoot first.  Senior, Paige Howell would finish the first kick, staking the Hornets to a 1-0 lead.  Calvin senior center midfielder would knot the shootout at 1 as she finished her opportunity.  Freshmen Emily Gray would take the next penalty and it was saved by Calvin keeper Kayla Sulzer.  With a chance to take the lead, Carly Prins stepped up to the spot for Calvin but would be denied by Kalamazoo keeper Courtney McCoy.  Freshmen Jackie Short then finished her opportunity to put the Hornets up 2-1.  Kellie Hondred's attempt would be save by McCoy giving Hornet Hilary Marusak an opportunity to give K a two goal cushion.  However, Calvin keeper Kayla Sulzer had other thoughts saving Marusak's shot.  Alison Boender would then step up for the Knights but she would but her attempt just high of the goal.  Leading 2-1 Kalamazoo's Julia Schroeder would step up to the spot and calmly placed her penalty past Sulzer cliniching Kzoo's advancement to the final.  The game will go down as a tie but Kalamazoo has earned the right to play for the conference tournament championship Saturday in Kalamazoo.

With the result, Kalamazoo will host the #6 seed Albion College Britons in the final of the MIAA tournament to determine which team will received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA III women's soccer tournament.  Kick-off is slated for 12:00pm on Saturday.  It is the first conference final appearance in 10 years for the Hornets which also matches the last time that they qualified for the national tournament.  An outstanding team effort, the Hornets really put in the work defensively on Tuesday and will look to continue their post season run for a couple more games.

GO HORNETS!!!