The Grand Valley State University women's soccer team takes to the road this weekend to open its 2015 season with a pair of matches. The Lakers will open play against the Bulldogs of Truman State on Friday before taking on the Quincy Hawks on Sunday.
 
GVSU will look to open the 2015 season with a win, and history is on their side. The Lakers have not lost a season opener since 2001, and return much of their offensive talent from last season's team that scored 79 goals on the way to winning the Division II National Championship.
 
The weekend's matchups feature two good teams from a traditional powerhouse soccer conference, the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Second year Grand Valley coach Jeff Hosler  knows the quality of both programs.
 
"The GLVC is typically very strong in women's soccer, and its important for us to play them, to get the toughest non conference competition we can find, and we've done that this year too."
 
Hosler expects both Truman and Quincy to be much better than last season, when they finished fourth and seventh in their conference, respectively.
 
"Quincy's down year last year was just a matter of youth and inexperience, I expect them to be closer to the form they were in 2012-13, and competing and challenging to win the GLVC."
 
The Hawks return the three top scorers from last season in Ashley Burton, Mackenzie Reif and Haylye Markway, as well as All-GLVC Third team goalkeeper Megan Swanson. The Hawks were picked to finish sixth in the GLVC preseason coaches poll.
 
Of the two teams, Hosler sees more of his own team in the Bulldogs of Truman.
 
"Truman is right there too, they have a fantastic midfielder in Alexis Heffernan, that creates a lot of problems for teams and is a senior and leader for that group. Truman is more like us, more free flowing, especially with Heffernan in the middle.
 
Heffernan is indeed a key player for the Bulldogs, but they also feature all conference defender Jessica Hanson and a tandem of sophomore goalkeepers in Katie Mattingly and Nicole Sparks.
 
Despite owning a 12-0-0 series advantage with Quincy and a 1-0-0 advantage over Truman, Grand Valley will be starting off this season on the same footing as everyone else in some ways, according to Hosler.
 
""Non-conference opponents are harder to game plan for, particularly on the first weekend. Even for an opponent that's familiar like Quincy, at the end of the day it's a new season with new personnel. It can be nerve wracking because you don't know what to expect out of your opponent."
 
Knowing what to expect out of an opponent is one thing, but knowing what can be expected from his own team is one thing working in Hosler's favor. The Lakers return six players who scored at least four goals last season, the makings of a very balanced and opportunistic offense.
 
Defensively, the Lakers will have to replace All-GLIAC Honorable Mention Andrea Strauss in goal, but feature defensive veterans Katy Woolley, Shannon Quinn and Clare Carlson to anchor the defense. The Lakers will look to repeat the success of the 2014 campaign when they yielded just 12 goals on the season.