Endicott-Utica Release
WENHAM, Mass.—Calvin Men's Soccer took home the hardware at the North Shore Invitational with a 1-0 victory over host Gordon on Saturday night at the Brigham Athletic Complex. Sophomore midfielder Matt Hinds (Frankenmuth, Mich.) found himself in the right place at the right time following a deflection and accounted for the game's only score on the evening.
 
The differences in style of play was evident from the opening tip, with Calvin's length being an instant factor against a smaller Gordon squad. The Knights pushed the ball up consistently and put the Gordon defense in tough spots with long ball after long ball.
 
Calvin's first opportunity came in the 18^th minute when sophomore Mitch Stark (South Lyon, Mich.) beat his defender and tried to poke a ball past Josh Spoohour (Greencastle, Pa.). The Gordon keeper was able to get enough on it to push away from the target and keep things knotted up.
 
Gordon looked to have a good chance to score in the 23^rd minute on a corner cross by Danny Perez (Billerica, Mass.), but the ball skipped into a defender and out of danger.
 
The Knights broke the silence in the 30^th minute with Hinds chip. A loose ball caromed off a Gordon defender to the feet of Hinds as Spoonhour was coming to collect the ball from his post. Hinds put an easy ball over Spoonhour, leaving the Gordon no chance to make a play.
 
Offenses looked more comfortable in the second half with each team finding more space to work in the midfield with legs tiring. The Scots had two big chances in the last 10 minutes to tie the game on a pair of corners. However, Ben Gradert (Hudson, Ohio) and Jerry Williams (Royersford, Pa.) both had shots saved by Calvin keeper Niko Giantsopoulos (Markham, Ontario).
 
Giantsopoulos was the only keeper in the tournament to pitch shutouts in both contests and made two saves against the Scots. Spoonhour made four saves for Gordon.
 
Quick Hits

• Calvin outshot the Fighting Scots 8-5 overall and 5-2 on target.
• The Knights are the first of two nationally ranked teams Gordon will face in 2015. They face defending champion Tufts later in the season.
• This was only the fifth time Gordon has been shut out during Derek Potteiger's tenure. (Nichols, Keene State, Eastern Connecticut, Amherst)