Olivet men’s soccer team plays at Calvin in MIAA Tournament championship game

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College men's soccer team will travel to play Calvin College in the championship game of the 2012 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Saturday, Nov. 3, at Zuidema Field in Grand Rapids.

THE MATCHUP: Olivet (16-4-1, 10-4 MIAA) vs. Calvin (15-3-1, 12-1-1 MIAA)
DATE/TIME: Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m.
VENUE: Zuidema Field; Grand Rapids, Mich.
LIVESTATS: http://www.calvin.edu/scoreboard
LIVE AUDIO: http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/calvin.portal#

MIAA TOURNAMENT: The Comets are the No. 2 seed, while the Knights are the No. 1 seed. In yesterday's semifinals, Olivet came from behind to beat Hope College, 2-1, at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet. Calvin beat Kalamazoo College, 1-0, in double overtime at Zuidema Field.

Hope took a 1-0 lead with a goal off a set piece in the second minute of the game. Olivet broke through and tied the game on a goal by sophomore Jon Puente, of Kalamazoo, with 2:10 left before halftime. In the 21st minute of the second half, Puente put the Comets ahead on a header goal.

Calvin's Travis Vegter scored on a header with only 1:14 left in the second overtime period to beat Kalamazoo.

SEASON SERIES: Olivet and Calvin split their two regular season meetings, with each team winning on its home field. On Sept. 12, the Comets rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Knights, 6-5, at the Cutler Athletic Complex. Calvin defeated Olivet, 3-2, on Oct. 10, at Zuidema Field.

OLIVET HEAD COACH CHAD WISEMAN: Chad Wiseman is in his fourth season as the Comets' head coach and has led them to four straight winning seasons. The winningest men's soccer coach in school history, Wiseman has a 53-24-6 record.

CALVIN HEAD COACH RYAN SOUDERS:  Ryan Souders is in his first season as Calvin's head coach.

SCHOOL RECORD: The Comets have broken the single-season school record for overall wins (16), wins in MIAA play (10) and MIAA points (30).

BEST FINISH: The second-place finish in the final MIAA regular season standings is the best in school history.

CAPTAINS: The 2012 team captains are senior Cole Dehen, of Kentwood, and junior Fred Smyser, of Grand Rapids.

LEADING SCORER: Sophomore Esteban Russell, of DeWitt, leads Olivet with 35 points, 10 goals, 15 assists and four game-winning goals. The 15 assists are a single-season school record.

PERFECT PKS: Smyser has taken three penalty kicks for Olivet in 2012, and has successfully made each one.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR?: Freshman Cory Werner-Hoskins, of Kalamazoo, is third on the team in scoring with 18 points on seven goals and four assists.

GUARDING THE NET: Sophomore keeper Alex Lang, of West Bloomfield, has started 19 games in net, and allowed only 19 goals for a 1.18 goals against average.

WINNING AGAINST MIAA FOES: Olivet and Calvin are the only MIAA teams to record at least one win against each of the other seven other MIAA teams this season.

LEAGUE LEADERS: In only MIAA games, Russell ranks among the Top 5 in several offensive categories, including assists (1st, nine); assists per game (1st, 0.64); shots (2nd, 68); shots per game (3rd, 4.86); points (3rd, 21); points per game (3rd, 1.50), goals (tied for 5th, 6); and goals per game (tied for 5th, 0.43).

NSCAA RANKINGS: Olivet is ranked No. 6 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Central Region poll after being the top ranked team for three weeks from Sept. 25-Oct. 16. Calvin is No. 3 in the regional poll. In addition, the Comets had climbed as high as No. 8 in the NSCAA national rankings.

D3SOCCER.COM: Olivet is receiving votes in the latest D3Soccer.com Top 25 poll.

NCAA RANKINGS: In the latest NCAA Central Region rankings, Calvin is No. 5 and Olivet is No. 6. These rankings are what the NCAA will use to help determine the at-large bids for the NCAA Division III National Championships.

MIAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY: In the first-ever MIAA Men's Soccer Tournament in 2011, the Comets were No. 4 seed and upset No. 1 Calvin in the semifinals before losing to Hope in the championship game. Hope was No. 2 seed and beat No. 3 Trine (Ind.) University, 2-0, in the semifinals.

THE FIRST MEETING BETWEEN OLIVET AND CALVIN ON SEPT. 12 – OLIVET 6, CALVIN 5: The first meeting between the two schools this season was one that will be permanently etched into the memory banks for anyone who watched the game. Calvin built a 4-0 lead with 4:26 left before halftime. Olivet scored with 1:30 remaining in the half to make the score 4-1 at the break. The Comets then scored four goals in a 10-minute span in the second half, 52:00-62:00, to take a 5-4 lead. Olivet added another goal for a 6-4 lead. The Knights got one goal back in the 75th minute and a header in the closing seconds for them just sailed wide of the net. Russell led Olivet with two goals and one assist. Werner-Hoskins had two assists. Nick Holtrop recorded a hat track for Calvin.

THE SECOND MEETING BETWEEN OLIVET AND CALVIN ON OCT. 10 – CALVIN 3, OLIVET 2: Like the first meeting, the two teams played an epic contest at Zuidema Field. Calvin took an early 1-0 lead at the 8:32 mark. Olivet quickly answered 14 seconds later to tie the game at 1-1. The score stayed that way until there was 47 seconds left in the first half when the Knights went ahead 2-1 at the break. Calvin went ahead 3-1 with a goal at the 61:02 mark. The Comets responded a little more than one minute later to make the score 3-2. Werner-Hoskins, and freshman Austin Dunn, of Perry, scored Olivet's goals. 

ONE GOAL DECISIONS: Eight of the last 11 meetings between the two teams have been decided by one goal or less, including a 0-0 tie in 2010.

ZUIDEMA FIELD MAGIC: The Comets have won two of their last three games at Zuidema Field.

NCAA D3 NATIONAL TOURNAMENT: The winner of this game will receive the MIAA's automatic bid to the 2012 Division III National Championships. Olivet is seeking its first-ever bid to the national tournament, while Calvin is looking for a return trip to the tournament after advancing all the way to the national championship game in 2011. The NCAA will air a live selection show on the Internet (http://www.ncaa.com/live/player?vid=2012/562&date=2012/11/05) on Monday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m. to announce the field for the 2012 tournament.