The Hope College men’s soccer team is moving on in the NCAA Tournament.
The Flying Dutch scored two goals in the middle of the box to beat DePauw (Ind.) University 2-0 in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament on Friday at Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Freshman Jackson Mindling and senior Thomas DeVries scored the goals for the No. 16 Flying Dutchmen (14-2-3), who will now face No. 7 Wisconson-Eau Claire at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday.
“We knew DePauw would do a good job of clogging the middle outside the box and denying us those clear center of the goal shooting opportunities,” Hope coach David Blahnik said. “We knew we had to kind of pivot and get some cut-back balls across. What we love about this team we have a lot of depth whether it’s a fifth-year senior or a freshman. We have the ability to attack in two, three, four different ways.”
Friday marked Hope’s seventh all-time opening-round victory in postseason play and first since 2013 against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
“I’m proud of our guys and thrilled for our guys,” Blahnik said. “I think we’ve been kind of building to this point this year and a couple of years. We’ve been capable for a couple of years, but it’s a matter of stringing it together consistently. We knew it could be a tough game. I thought we played well throughout the whole game.”
Earlier in the season, Hope and DePauw played to a 2-2 draw at Van Andel Soccer Stadium. The Tigers (10-5-6) went on to win the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.
After the Flying Dutchmen missed a couple of quality scoring chances early, Mindling put the Flying Dutchmen on the board 10 minutes, 41 seconds into the second half.
Senior Matthew Davidson centered a pass that junior Seth Walters dropped to a nearby Mindling.Mindling dribbled two steps before blasting a right-footed shot past into the low left corner of the DePauw goal. Both Davidson and Walters were credited with assists.
It was Mindling’s 12th goal of the season, tying him with Walters for the team lead.
Mindling and Walters are the second set of Hope teammates to both score at least 12 goals within a single season. In 2005, Karter Klingenberg and Geoff Meyer accomplished the feat with 15 and 14, respectively.
The Flying Dutchmen put the match away with 11:06 remaining.
Senior Mario Hrvojevic set a shot 15 yards away from the right wing that deflected off the hands of DePauw goalkeeper Sam Ortner.
The rebound came to the feet of DeVries, who easily buried it into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Hope’s defense delivered its ninth clean sheet of the season.
DePauw only mustered three shots, all of which senior goalkeeper Daniel Hesselbein stopped.
“The guys in front of me made my job easier,” Hesselbein said.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as  Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.   

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