On Wednesday afternoon, the Alma College Men's Soccer team took part in the MIAA playoffs with a semi-final appearance in Grand Rapids against the league-leading Calvin College Knights. It was a crisp early November afternoon, the weather was dry and the field was ready for both teams.

Calvin scored in the first half on a Alma own goal and then added the clincher in the 88th minute of the contest to secure a very hard-fought 2-0 victory over the visiting Scots.

With the loss, Alma finished the 2014 season with an overall record of 8-8-3, while Calvin advanced to the MIAA Championship by improving to 18-2-0 in 2014.

After losing to Calvin twice in the regular season by 4-0 margins, Scots Head Coach Josh Oakley correctly and brilliantly changed up the approach against the ultra talented Knights. Alma, while not totally unresponsive offensively, came out in a defensive structure meant to limit Calvin's chances and open up counter attack possibilities for the Scots.

The two teams played it close to the vest for nearly half the first frame, with neither side having any real quality scoring opportunities. Then, at 19:20, the Knights sustained some pressure and an innocent looking shot became the first tally of the contest.

Calvin's shot rebounded off of a Alma defender in front of the net and bounced in behind Scots Sr. GK Brett Galloway (Clinton Township/Chippewa Valley) to give the home team the 1-0 advantage. That would prove to be the only goal of the half, and the two teams went into the halftime break with the Knights up by one.

In the first 45 minutes, the Knights outshot the Scots by a nine to eight margin, including three to two in shots on goal. In addition, Calvin had two corner kicks to Alma's one.

The second half saw more of the same, as Alma stuck true to their game plan and kept the game close as the minutes ticked onward. The Scots started to feel the offensive urgency as the half wore on but were unable to get a shot past Calvin GK Niko Giantsopoulos.

The Knights clinched the playoff victory at the 87:47 mark, when MF Stephan Hooker scored from a shot in the box off a crossing pass from Travis Vegter. The tally gave the home team an insurmountable two goal lead, and Calvin closed out the final minutes to secure the victory.

The final shot tally favored Calvin by a 18-11 margin and the Knights had eight shots on goal Alma's three. The Knights added five corner shots in the second half for a game total of seven, while the Scots finished with three.

Alma Jr. F Zach Vandeveer (Elk Rapids/Elk Rapids) paced the Scots with four total shots and one on goal. Jr. M/F Julian Birge (East Lansing/East Lansing) finished with two shots overall and one on net. Sr. M Max Vanderpool (Augusta/Galesburgh-Augusta) had the other shot on goal for Alma in the loss. Galloway finished with six saves in the final match of his collegiate career.