The men’s lacrosse team won its first game as a varsity sport Saturday, 5-4, playing in Defiance, Ohio against Defiance College.

The Knights had an early lead with goals by sophomores Tim Marco and Jonathon VanderLaan. Marco’s goal came in the first quarter while VanderLaan’s came in the second.

Defiance then scored three goals to bring the halftime score to 3-2. Defiance scored again in the third quarter which would be their final goal of the game. Freshman D.J. VanderBaan scored an unassisted goal in the third quarter to bring the score to 4-3.

Senior Greg Boer tied the game in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter with an assist by VanderBaan. With a little more than 10 minutes remaining, junior Casey Harless scored the game winning goal on a feed from Marco.

After the win, coach Joel Kamstra said, “We’re really proud of our first win; it’s a great benchmark in our first varsity season and a win that will be one of many for the program.  Our guys played tough and we definitely earned it.  We’re hungry for more.”

Boer went 9-11 on faceoff opportunities. Fellow senior Adam Wiersma had 11 ground balls. Calvin won 41 ground balls to Defiance’s 26. Senior goalie Drew Sroczynski had two saves on the day.

“We played sloppy through the first half, but really pulled ourselves together at the end to get that much needed win,” said Sroczynski.

The Knights play again on Saturday at Grand Rapids Christian at 1 p.m.