ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's soccer team unloaded a season high 11 goals in beating a hapless Findlay squad at home for Senior Day on Sunday afternoon. Junior forward Gabriella Mencotti tied a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference record for goals in a single game with five, propelling the Lakers to a fourth straight win and a 13-1-1 overall record (8-0-0 GLIAC).
 
Mencotti netted goals in the 3^rd, 19^th, 27^th, 28^th and 40^th minute of play on her way to a career high for points (10). Both the five goals and ten points are good for GVSU single-game records as well.
 
Despite being the top performer for the Lakers, Mencotti didn't steal the show from the Laker seniors entirely. Netting a hat trick of her own was Jayma Martin (14', 25', 62'), while fellow senior Marti Corby tied a GVSU single-game record with four assists in a single game for her own career best effort.
 
"Senior Day obviously brings up a lot of emotion during the week, and reflection about the contributions they've made and then it can be difficult to turn around and focus on the match", Hosler said. "I think we weren't as sharp as we could've been, but we were very good finding penetrating balls, Marti in particular was very linked in to finding gaps, and Gabby Mencotti continutes to look to penetrate more and more and capitalized on her six great scoring opportunities to put us ahead heading into halftime."
 
It didn't take long for the Lakers to get on the board in the lopsided affair, and after Mencotti beat Oiler keeper Sarah Baer one on one to net the game's first goal, the flood gates opened for GVSU. In the 14^th minute, Martin put the Lakers  up 2-0 by rebounding a shot, saved by Baer, and firing a volley into the net for her 11^th goal of the season.
 
In the 19^th minute, Corby played in a deep lob to a streaking Mencotti, replicating almost exactly the team's first goal of the game, as Mencotti once again danced away from a charging Baer and coolly slotted in her second goal of the day.
 
Shortly after the second Mencotti goal, senior Kendra Stauffer got in on the scoring action, taking a Corby pass to the right of goal, dribbling past Baer and putting away her 10^th goal of the season for a 4-0 lead.
 
Martin netted her second goal in the 25^th minute, rebounding her own shot after it was blocked by a defender, and firing the ball low past Baer to put the Lakers up 5-0. Just a minute and a half later, Mencotti achieved the hat trick, receiving a ball from sophomore Tara Lierman and chipping Baer from 25 yards out for a 6-0 lead. Just a minute later, she struck again, hooking up with Corby for the third time, sidestepping away from Baer and firing a shot into the net from the left side of the goal.
 
With her fourth goal, Mencotti tied the GVSU single-game goals record, but with her fifth in the 40^th minute, she beat it, taking a pass from Stauffer, dribbling past Baer and putting away the ball for her fifth goal of the game. Mencotti now has 20 goals on the season, easily eclipsing her 16-goal freshman campaign and potentially putting her atop the nation in goals scored.
 
Martin's strike in the 62^nd minute came as a result of a scrum in front of goal, as she corralled the ball after a blocked shot and poked it past an Oiler defender sprawled out on the goal line for her third goal of the game and put GVSU up 9-0.
A pair of goals in the 74^th and 76^th minute by Laker freshman Charley Campbell rounded out the scoring for GVSU, a season high effort for the Lakers and the most goals scored by the team since a 13-0 defeat of Tiffin during the 2013 season.
 
Every one of the Lakers six seniors started the game, including Gabbie Guibord, who made her first start since the season opener against Cal State-San Bernardino (injury), and the swan song of Alex Mencotti, the team's resilient leader who has spent the majority of her career battling three torn ACL's.
 
"I think it was important to get Flex (Alexis) a start, to get the opportunity to get back on the game field one last time and get a bit of closure", Hosler said. "It was also important for the team that she gets on the field, because she does so much for our group and has done so much behind the scenes in the three years I've been here, so it was important to get her into our lineup today."
 
While her sister was recognized for her final playing appearance, Gabriella put forth an on-field performance worthy of the highest praise. All told, the Novi native took seven shots on frame and scored on five of them, a performance both jaw-dropping and remarkably efficient. Her five goals in a conference game tied the mark set by Northwood's Alyssa Tomassi vs Malone in the 2012 season. It also places her firmly in possession of the GVSU single game goals record, ahead of Laker greats Katy Tafler (114 career goals), Ashley Botts (67 career goals), and current teammates Kendra Stauffer and Jayma Martin, all of whom notched four-goal games in their careers. The 10 total points compiled by Mencotti also bested the previous GVSU record of nine, shared by Botts, Stauffer and Cassie Teeple, marking two GVSU program records set in one performance.
 
"I think it was well deserved, she (Gabby) created six great goal-scoring chances with well time penetrating runs, and capitalized on five", Hosler said. "With that being a record its even more impressive that she did it in 45 minutes and didn't play in the second half. I'm happy for her, it's well deserved and it takes a great effort on a single day to achieve that.  She's  much better now than ever, even after a great freshman year. We have enough of a sample size to say that she's yet to have a bad game in the 2016 season, and a lot of that has to do with the confidence in wanting the ball and being more confident with it inside the box."
 
The Lakers improved to 6-1-at home this season, and recorded their 12^th shutout of the season. Starter Jennifer Steinaway and Paige Pryson combined to record two saves and deny the Oilers a goal in the victory.