Lancer Soccer Misses Chance To Upset No. 22 SAU

WINONA LAKE – In a battle for first place, Grace College’s men’s soccer came up short in a 3-1 defeat to No. 22 Spring Arbor on Saturday.

The Lancers (7-4-4, 4-2-1 Crossroads League) missed a shot to claim first in the league standings entering the final week of the regular season. Grace sits in third place after the loss.

The Cougars (13-3, 6-1 CL) scored a pair of second-half goals to ruin Grace’s upset bid. Grace was only outshot 14-12 in an evenly played match.

“I thought we played a decent game tonight, but it wasn’t good enough. Spring Arbor is a good team,” said Grace head coach Matt Hotchkin. “I thought we were better than them in several key areas. But tonight, what they do best won the day.”

Spring Arbor had the better of possession over the first portion of the first half. The Cougars controlled the ball and scored the opening goal off a corner kick in the fifth minute.

SAU nearly scored again minutes later, which seemed to spark life into the Lancers.

Grace began to play with urgency over the final 15 minutes of the half and held a consistent threat on the Cougars’ end of the field.

Marcelo Talamas made an immediate impression off the bench. He had a curling shot from the top of the box that beat SAU’s goalkeeper but clanged off the crossbar in the 30th minute. The rebound came back to Talamas, and his low shot forced a diving save.

Eight minutes later, Cody Boerema broke free and had a shot under pressure on a counterattack. His chipped effort evaded the goalkeeper but rolled just wide.

With five minutes left in the first half, Talamas was fouled inside the penalty box, awarding Grace a penalty kick. Breno Oliveira made good on the PK attempt to send the game into a 1-1 tie at halftime.

Both teams had eight shots in the first half, and Grace had four corner kicks.

The second half started evenly, but SAU capitalized on another set piece to score. The Cougars finished off a cross into the box at the 66:12 mark to take a 2-1 lead.

Grace did its best to battle back, but the Cougars limited the Lancers to two shots over the final 20 minutes.

Oliveira nearly scored for Grace again in the 79th minute. The junior juked a defender and rifled off a low drive that was saved.

SAU sealed the win in the waning moments. The Lancers failed to clear a corner kick, and a dangerous cross was headed in by a Grace defender for an own goal at the 87:01 mark.

For the game, Talamas’s four shots led the Lancers. Colin Cape, Boerema and Oliveira each tried two shots.

“We can learn from tonight, and I actually think this is one of those losses that gives us a hopeful outlook going forward,” Hotchkin. “It was a rough week for us, but we are sticking together and will improve because of the challenges we have faced. We plan to take things a game at a time.”

The Lancers will look to rebound on Wednesday, hosting Mt. Vernon Nazarene at 1st Source Bank Field for a 7 p.m. match.



Grace Sees Familiar Faces At Great Lakes Challenge

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grace’s cross country team ran at the Great Lakes Challenge on Saturday, a meet that featured over 20 teams and nine Crossroads League schools.

The Lady Lancers finished 16th as a team in the race, and the men’s team was 15th.

On the men’s side, three runners had a personal record for the Lancers. Sam Hall paced Grace in 62nd place with a PR time of 27:02.

Carter Meyer returned from injury to run a 27:20 race, Ben Rankin crossed the finish line in 27:45, and Elijah Brooks was not far behind at 27:54.

John Marhefka (28:14) and Matt Halbakken (29:01) also had PRs for Grace. Brendan Hamilton (28:43) and Drew Jones (28:58) rounded out Grace’s top-six finishers.

Liz Fox continued her impressive campaign, finishing as the women’s top runner. She finished in 78th place in a time of 20:20. Aubrey Breininger was one place behind Fox at 20:24.

Jessica Zvers was third for the Lady Lancers at 20:58, and Suzanne Sickafoose (21:19), McCalah Mast (21:22) and Karla Singer (21:32) finished in a tight pack for the women.

“Our men ran a decent race, but we will definitely need some guys to step up at the league championships in two weeks,” said Grace head coach Jeff Raymond. “All of our ladies have had good races this year, but we need them to come together on the same day at our league meet.”

The Lancers hit the climax of their season next, tackling the Crossroads League Championships on Nov. 4 in Carmel.



Grace Slips At Home To IWU

WINONA LAKE – Grace’s volleyball team was unable to upset a second straight opponent on Saturday.

The Lady Lancers fell 3-0 to Indiana Wesleyan, spoiling Grace’s Senior Day at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center.

Grace had taken down No. 25 Marian on Wednesday, but the Lady Lancers (17-14, 9-6 Crossroads League) could not continue their momentum against IWU, who is receiving votes in the NAIA.

IWU struck late to steal the first set from Grace. The Wildcats (21-8, 14-3 CL) held a small lead for much of the set, but Grace used a 6-1 run to take a 22-20 lead off Kelsee Zuidema’s deadly serving.

The Lady Lancers pulled ahead 24-22 after a thunderous kill from Sierra Smith, but the Wildcats survived two straight set points and scored another to stun Grace with a 25-24 lead.

It was Grace’s turn to survive set points, and they held IWU off three set points. But the fourth set point was finished off by the Wildcats in a thrilling 29-27 win.

The second set was just as close. The score was tied 18-18, but the Wildcats surged ahead with three straight points to force a timeout. Grace was unable to slow down IWU in a 25-21 defeat.

In the third set, Grace slipped into an early 9-4 hole. But a timeout from Grace coach Katie Van Hofwegen gave the Lady Lancers a spark. Grace scored six of the next seven points, including an ace by Sara Miller and kills by Kari Feddema, Alexa Hill and Kelsee Zuidema in rapid succession.

But the Wildcats quickly regained the lead and never turned back. IWU gradually pulled away from Grace, finishing off the sweep with a 25-20 win.

Caylie Teel finished with six kills and 16 digs, and Zuidema added a team-high 10 kills.

Sara Miller led all players with 26 digs to go along with a pair of service aces, Alexa Hill handed out 31 assists, and Gina Novotny amassed 11 digs.

Feddema tallied six kills, and Tori Bontrager had 4 kills, 1 solo block and 3 block assists.

Saturday’s Senior Day honored the six-player graduating class of Bontrager, Feddema, Naarah Foster, Savannah Hart, Miller and Smith. The class has 80 wins to date in their four-year careers.

The Lady Lancers have three matches remaining in the regular season. Grace will travel to Mt. Vernon Nazarene on Wednesday.