SPARKS, Md. -- The #12 Grand Valley State women's lacrosse team was able to grab their first victory of the season in their third game against their third ranked opponent. The Lakers downed #13 Bentley 13-5 at the US Lacrosse Facility in Sparks, Md. on Monday afternoon. 

GVSU was able to score their first goal just 35 seconds into the game from freshman Abbi O'Neal against the Falcons and never surrendered the lead over the course of the game. The Lakers would capitalize again just a minute and 25 seconds later as Meghan Datema scored the second goal of the game after an assist from Chelsey Bishop. Datema and Bishop connected for an additional goal around the 22 minute mark in the first half to stretch the lead to 3-0 before Bentley scored their first goal at the 16 minute mark from Kathleen Gillespie. 

The Lakers would score a pair of goals from Carly Shisler and Elizabeth Yeomans before Bentley would pull the score back to 5-2. Meggan Loyd would score a pair of goals at the 10 minute mark and the seven-and-a-half minute mark following Bentley's score to pull ahead to a five-goal lead over the Falcons at 7-2. GVSU would take a five-goal lead into the half at 8-3 after a Shisler goal with just 14 seconds left in the half. 

During the second half, Bentley scored two of the first three goals in the half to pull the Laker lead back to just four goals at the 17:46 mark in the second half at 9-5. GVSU would then put together a five-goal run over the course of just under 15 minutes. Sarah Stagaard scored at the 8:37 mark to put the Lakers up 10-5 and Ashley Bailey would join the scoring just over a minute later to stretch the lead to 11-5. Bailey would find the net at 4:33 to continue the Laker run to 12-5. Shisler and Bishop would connect for the final GVSU goal at the 2:56 mark of the second half. 

Grand Valley State's winning goal keeper for the match was Sarah Zwilsky who improved to 1-2 on the season with 9 saves on 14 shots. Shisler led the way for the Lakers in scoring, while Bishop was the top assist getter for GVSU. 

The twelfth-ranked Lakers will take on the #3 team in the country at the US Lacrosse Facility on Thursday when they face off against the Le Moyne Dolphins. The Dolphins are the third top-five team that the Lakers will have faced this season after surrendering their first two games against then #1 Florida Southern and #2 Adelphi in Lakeland, Fla. Thursday's game against Le Moyne will begin at 2 pm.