Women’s Lacrosse falls 16-4 to Davenport in first game as varsity sport
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Story by Mitch Blankespoor
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Calvin women’s lacrosse team made its varsity debut on Thursday as it traveled to nearby Davenport University for a non-conference contest Thursday. The Panthers defeated the Knights 16-4 at Davenport’s Turf Field.
Davenport, which came into the contest riding a four-game winning streak, got on the scoreboard early with three goals in the first five minutes - two coming from sophomore Taylor Balch (Rockford/Rockford HS).
Calvin countered with a goal from senior Katie Pranger (Denver, CO/Denver Christian) at the 23:38 mark of the first half. The Knights, however, could muster one more goal in the first half from junior MIchelle Holwerda (Grand Rapids/Grand Rapids Christian) while yielding five. Davenport led 8-2 at halftime.
“We did a great job of transitioning from defense to offense,” said Calvin head coach Blake Boehm.
The second half scoring spread turned out to be the same as the first - eight goals for Davenport and two for Calvin. Junior Lissa Busscher (Holland/Holland Christian) and freshman Carolyn Forbes (Farmington Hills/Marion) scored the second half goals for the Knights.
As a team, Calvin was outshot 33-10. Senior goalkeeper Lauren Spoelstra (Oakland, NJ/Eastern Christian) was credited with nine saves.
“We had great leadership from all of our seniors,” said Boehm after the game. “Lauren [Spoelstra] played outstanding in goal. The [Davenport] easily could have had more goals. She kept some tough shots out of the net.”
Both teams committed 19 turnovers. Davenport held the advantage in ground balls (19-12) and draw controls (13-9).
Calvin (0-1, 0-0 MIAA) returns to action Sat., March 9, when it travels to Cincinnati, Ohio, for a game with the College of Mount Saint Joseph. The game is slated to start at 1:00 p.m. EST.
