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Hope College

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#BeStrongBeTrue
The 2025 Hope College women's lacrosse team poses for a group photo.
Alan Babbitt
21
Winner Hope HOPE 11-5, 7-0
15
Calvin CALVIN 11-5, 5-2
Winner
Hope HOPE
11-5, 7-0
21
Final
15
Calvin CALVIN
11-5, 5-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Hope HOPE 7 3 6 5 21
Calvin CALVIN 3 4 3 5 15

Game Recap: Women's Lacrosse | | Greg Chandler

Women's Lacrosse Outlasts Calvin, Makes History with Third Consecutive Outright MIAA Title

On a night that featured everything from shot clock malfunctions to perhaps the first-ever "dance-off" in The Rivalry between Hope College and Calvin University, the Flying Dutch women's lacrosse team made Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association history Thursday night.

Hope took the lead for good midway through the second quarter and went on to defeat Calvin, 21-15, at  Zuidema Soccer Field to become the first team to win three consecutive MIAA regular season championships since women's lacrosse became a conference sport in 2013.

The Flying Dutch finished the regular season at 7-0 in the MIAA and 11-5 overall. Hope has won 24 consecutive MIAA regular-season games dating back to April 2022, tying for the longest winning streak in conference history.

The Orange and Blue have locked up the No. 1 seed for the upcoming MIAA tournament and will have a first-round bye.

"I think it shows a lot for our classes coming forward in the program and how it's grown in the four years I have been here," said senior attacker Juli Kirkpatrick (Granger, Indiana / Mishawaka Penn HS), who had a huge night for the Flying Dutch with five goals and an assist. 

"It's been really cool to see it take off. I think a lot of it has to do with us learning how to work together and learning each other's strengths and weaknesses, and working from there … It's not just one person on the field, but there's 12 of us on the field at once, and everybody has their job and we do it."

With Calvin focusing its defensive attention on trying to shut down Hope's leading scorer, junior attacker Julia Brown (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Central), Brown's teammates stepped up in a big way.

Hope opened the game with a flurry of three goals in the game's first 1 minute and 42 seconds, but the Knights quickly bounced back with a pair of goals of their own. Later in the first quarter, freshman attacker Elliana Hillard (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) reeled off three goals in a span of a minute and 34 seconds, and Hope led 7-3 after the first 15 minutes.

The game was delayed on several occasions in the second quarter because of issues with the shot clock. Calvin opened the quarter with four unanswered goals, capped off by a Delaney Johnson tally that tied the score at 7-7 with 9:09 left in the first half.

However, the tie would last less than a minute. Just 52 seconds after Johnson's goal, a Calvin foul gave Hope junior midfielder Caleigh Randall (Lansing, Michigan / DeWitt) a free position shot, and Randall buried her shot past Calvin goalkeeper Hannah Rizzo to give the Flying Dutch a lead they would not relinquish.

Another free position goal by Randall and a Kirkpatrick goal, set up by senior attacker Kerrigan Brown (DeWitt, Michigan / DeWitt) gave Hope a 10-7 halftime lead.

Junior midfielder Stella Bottum (Alto, Michigan/Caledonia), who had a career night for the Flying Dutch with five goals and three assists for eight points, scored three of her goals in the third quarter. Bottum set up a Kirkpatrick goal as the Flying Dutch extended their lead to 17-10 heading into the final 15 minutes.

Hope took its biggest lead at 20-11 when Bottum fed Kirkpatrick for her fifth goal of the game with 3:49 left to play.

Six different players scored at least two goals for the Flying Dutch to pick up the slack for Julia Brown, who had a streak of 46 consecutive games with at least one goal snapped. 

Besides the five-goal performances by Kirkpatrick and Bottum, Randall scored four goals and added an assist, Hillard had three goals, and Kerrigan Brown and junior midfielder Sydney LaPrairie (Rochester, Michigan/Stoney Creek) chipped in two goals each.

"The only way that you do what we do is if you're able to be dynamic on offense and just have more people that can score the ball," head coach Keagan Pieri said. "I think it's awesome. It'll be Julia's day next time. It's awesome that we have that many people who want to go to cage."

Hope scored on 7-of-9 free position shots compared to 4-of-8 for Calvin.

The 21 goals for Hope matched the most ever by the Flying Dutch in a Rivalry game with Calvin, equaling the 21 they scored in a 21-11 win over the Knights in the 2023 MIAA Tournament semifinals.

Junior goalkeeper Samantha Smith (Westfield, Indiana/Westfield) made five saves in the cage for the Flying Dutch.

Hope will now await the winner of Saturday's first-round game between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in a tournament semifinal on Tuesday, April 29, at Van Andel Soccer Stadium. 

The MIAA Tournament field, game times and ticket information will be announced on Friday, April 25, at 11 a.m.
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