ALLENDALE, Mich.—Less than one year removed from punching their ticket to the 2015 NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, the Lakers are headed there once more on the heels of a 2-0 victory over Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday afternoon at GVSU Soccer Field.
 
Clare Carlson netted the game winner for Grand Valley State in the 34^th minute on a penalty kick, while Division II leading scorer Gabriella Mencotti added a second half tally to give the Lakers an insurance goal.
 
The victory over the fifth seeded Tritons gave the Lakers their 20^th win of the season and sends them back to the regional championship that they won last season with a 2-1 victory over then #14^th ranked Bellarmine. Now the Lakers will face the second seeded Truman State Bulldogs on Friday, November 18^th for the 2016 Midwest Regional Championship, as the Bulldogs defeated McKendree 1-0 in Sunday's other Midwest Region semifinal matchup. Unlike last season's regional championship game, the Lakers will have the chance to play on their home field for the title.
 
The first half of play in Sunday's contest included very heavy press from the Tritons, as they adopted aggressive pressure early in the game and kept it up throughout the half. Despite that pressure, the Lakers got several early looks on goal, forcing a pair of saves by Tritons goalkeeper Emily Rish within the first 10 minutes.
 
Keeping up the aggressive play, the Lakers had multiple good looks at an initial goal in the half but were unable to convert until Mencotti was brought down from behind inside the box by a Triton defender in the 34^th minute. Stepping in to take the penalty kick was senior defender Clare Carlson, who converted the chance to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. The foul was one of 13 the Tritons would be whistled for in the game, and the first of three yellow cards doled out to UMSL players.
 
That 1-0 margin would hold into the halftime break for the Lakers, but an insurance goal was not far away in the second half. After a pair of UMSL shots went wide of goal early in the half, Carlson neatly stole the ball from a Triton near midfield and advanced the ball into the UMSL side of the field before dishing it off to classmate Kendra Stauffer. Stauffer took the ball and her defender towards the baseline, then cut back towards midfield and fired a ball into the center of the field, where a waiting Mencotti lifted a high arching header into the Tritons goal for a 2-0 lead.
 
Defensively, Grand Valley State was in good form throughout the game, allowing just one late shot on goal to the Tritons, an attempt that provided little challenge to Laker goalkeeper Jennifer Steinaway in making the save. None of UMSL's other 10 shots was on frame, as GVSU did a good job keeping top scorers Miriam Taylor and McKayla Harder in check throughout the contest.
 
"We were really good on defense today. I thought we got a little careless in the final 10 minutes of the game, gave up a couple bad fouls, allowed a player to turn us on her dominant foot", said GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler. "Those are just small details down the stretch that we need to get better at to see games out. Jenn (Steinaway) did a good job helping to organize and was a little more vocal today, and our back four did their job."
 
"We wanted their forward (Taylor) to expend a lot of energy chasing us, because when they come into possession they look to be direct over the top in playing to her, so we wanted to make sure she had heavier legs when that time came, and that we could wear them down as the game progressed", continued Hosler.
 
Carlson's goal was the fifth of her senior campaign, tying her own season high. Mencotti's strike was her 28^th of the season, while Stauffer notched her 13^th assist of the season.