Oct. 5, 2007

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Allendale, Mich. - Last season, Mercyhurst handed Grand Valley State its only loss in conference play. Katy Tafler made sure the #1-ranked Lakers did not suffer the same fate this season. Tafler scored four goals, the last on a penalty kick, to propel GVSU past #23 Mercyhurst. Coming into the match, Grand Valley was in the midst of a 21-game home win streak, while Mercyhurst had not lost in nine games. GVSU is now 11-0-0 on the season.

In front of a crowd of 473, most wearing white for GVSU's White Out Game, GVSU came out firing, attacking Mercyhurst from the start of the game. Grand Valley put seven shots on goal in the first 45 minutes, while MC could only muster two. Tafler drew first blood in the 27th minute of the match when Ashley Elsass played a ball from the right wing right to the center of the box at the six-yard line. Tafler one-touched the pass past Mercyhurst keeper Rebecca Heintzman to give GVSU a 1-0 lead.

Tafler struck again 12:25 later, heading a Natalja Stanski cross past Heintzman. The header was her 20th goal of the season. Tafler notched her 21st goal of the season with just two minutes remaining in the first half. Erika Pitroff launched a centering ball from the left flank that found Tafler about 10 yards out in the center of the box. She slammed in to the right side of the net to make the score 3-0 going into halftime.

Tafler finished the scoring in the 75th minute when a handball gave Grand Valley a penalty kick with just 15:13 remaining in the match. She went to bottom-right hand corner, while Heintzman went to the left and the match was 4-0.

Although MC did not put a shot on goal in the second half, they had their best scoring chance with 4:55 remaining. When a defender touched the ball back to GVSU goalkeeper Kristina Nasturzio, Nasturzio picked the ball up, giving Mercyhurst an indirect kick from about eight yards out. Mercyhurst could not finish the attempt, however, and Nasturzio ended the game with two saves for the shutout.

GVSU is the top-ranked team in Div. II and Tafler is ranked first in both goals per game and points per game. The shutout was the Lakers' seventh of the season. Tafler now has 80 goals in her career, extending her own GVSU record.