The Alma College Men's Soccer team opened up league play on a cool mid-September afternoon on Tuesday against MIAA rival Hope College. On the this day, the Flying Dutchmen got the better of the Scots, defeating the home team by a mark of 4-0. Alma is now 2-2 overall in 2011, while Hope improved to 2-1-2.

"We have a long way to go, but we knew that going in against a very good Hope team," said Alma Head Coach Josh Oakley. "There were some good things that happened out there today and now we will play Bluffton and Manchester this weekend. We will work hard to try to get a couple of wins in those games."

Fr. F Trae Pitts attacks the net against Hope on Tuesday

Hope scored the only goal of the first half, when David Whitaker scored at the 16:31 mark, enabling the Flying Dutchmen to lead 1-0 at the midway mark. The visitors scored three goals in the second half - at 49:24, 53:12 and 74:11 - and walked off the pitch with the 4-0 advantage.

For the game, the Scots were outshot by a margin of 27-9 (nine to five in shots on goal). Five different players had the shots on goal for Alma, and So. GK Graham Wallace (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Eastern) had four saves for the host team.

Box Score