The Grand Valley State women's soccer team, winners of 10 straight games, have met and defeated every challenge they have faced since the season opener, outscoring their opponents 51-4 over that span and never trailing their opponent.
 
Looming large this weekend is a pair of tough GLIAC opponents, in undefeated #21 ranked Ashland University, and the Panthers of Ohio Dominican University.
 
Friday's game against the Eagles will be the Laker's second matchup against a ranked opponent this season. GVSU defeated then #4 Minnesota State on September 13^th, 2-1.
 
"Ashland's a very good team, they're undefeated for a reason. I saw a lot of potential in them last season because of the way they got better as the season progressed with a very young team," GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler said. "Even now they have just two juniors and no seniors, and they rely very heavily on underclassmen. "
 
In last season's game, the Lakers defeated Ashland 4-0, pushing the series record against Ashland to 12-9-1.
 
This weekend's game pits the top scoring offense in all of Division II women's soccer against the top defense in the GLIAC, as Ashland has the tall task of trying to keep Grand Valley's explosive offense out of the net.
 
"Defensively, they are tough to break down because they are athletic, and where they lack in experience they can make up for in athleticism, so the key for us is possessing the ball the way we're capable of, making sure we're playing well between the lines of play, and making the final pass in the last third of the field,' Hosler said.
 
On Sunday, the Laker's head to Ohio Dominican, where they hope to avenge last season's loss to the Panthers during the regular season, one of just two defeats suffered by Grand Valley last season.
 
"Ohio Dominican is coming off a GLIAC championship last season, and they return a lot of players from last year. They've started slow this season, similar to last season, but their record is a little deceiving, they re much better than their record shows."
 
The Panthers return top goal scorer Ashley Blake (10 goals last season), as well as Lauren Pratt (5 goals last season).
 
"They are a pretty deep team, they play very hard, and they don't have any quit in them, so it will be a difficult matchup."
 
Both teams will have their hands full trying to contain the dynamic offense of Grand Valley, which fields a bevy of goal scorers that are able to score at any moment. Eight Lakers have scored at least four goals, led by junior Marti Corby with a conference high 14 goals.
 
"The benefit to our depth is that goals can come from anywhere, and we've had a lot of different combinations of our players that pose multiple threats, Our versatility makes it very difficult to game plan against us because of the numerous ways we can hit our opponents on the attack."
 
Grand Valley will face Ashland on Friday at 7 p.m in Ashland, Ohio. Sunday's game against Ohio Dominican will begin at 12 p.m and take place in Columbus, Ohio.