ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's soccer team scored two goals in the first five minutes of play and held Ohio Dominican scoreless the rest of the way to advance past the GLIAC Semifinals on Friday. With the 2-0 victory, the Lakers will play in Sunday afternoon's GLIAC Tournament Championship at GVSU Soccer Field against Michigan Tech, the winner of the other GLIAC semifinal game.
 
GVSU scored it's second early goal in as many games in just the third minute of Friday's action, as junior forward Gabriella Mencotti netted her seventh game-winning goal of the season. After a cross came into the box and was knocked down by defender Madz Ham, Mencotti raced to the loose ball and fired a shot to the far right side of the net past diving Huskies goalkeeper Marissa Wierzbicki for the early lead.
 
Just over two minutes later the Lakers doubled their lead with a set piece free kick from 21 yards out by senior Marti Corby. Seeing an opening on the near side of the net and a small wall of Panther defenders to shoot past, Corby struck the ball brilliantly and past a lunging Wierzbicki on the left side of the goal for her seventh strike of the season.
 
After the scintillating start to the contest for the Lakers, the game took on a largely sluggish pace, as neither side was able to manufacture or convert on goal scoring opportunities before the halftime break.
 
"Scoring a couple early goals was huge for us", said GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler. "I think it was a great thing to have happen, and also something that kind of took us out of the game. Having played and done well the first two times against ODU, it actually kind of took the emotion out of us, which was disappointing to see. Great start, but we've got make sure that we have those and capitalize and continue to play that way to put teams away, because regardless of the start we had they were able to hang around for the next 85 minutes."
 
The Lakers stood ready to benefit from a penalty in the Panther box in the 65^th minute, but a save on the penalty shot by ODU reserve goalkeeper Kelsey Harris denied GVSU a third goal. Even with holding a healthy 30-6 advantage in shots for the game, the Lakers were held off the scoreboard in the second period.
 
"I think our group knows they are capable of scoring more, but we didn't really do a lot to generate more of those scoring chances", Hosler said. "Some of our best scoring chances came from knockdowns in the box or loose balls, and most of those shots got blocked or saved, and you have to have more calm and composure to finish those chances."
 
A physical game was expected from a tough Ohio Dominican side, but seemed to take the Lakers out of their rhythm on offense, leading to missed connections in the passing game and a lack of dangerous runs from GVSU's speedy forwards.
 
"I think we had a hard time adjusting to the physicality a little bit, and the issue was we kept putting balls into players with a man on tight against their back, when the first attacker had the time and space to have made a better decision", Hosler said. "I think we became very predictable, we need to find more penetration from our forwards because we have great depth and pace at  the position, and too often they are coming back for balls that they don't need to be."
 
Ham and forward Kendra Stauffer each notched assists in the game, while goalkeeper Jennifer Steinaway was perfect between the sticks, making three saves en route to her 11^th clean sheet of the season. Friday's game also likely marks the last time the Lakers and Panthers will ever meet as conference foes, as Ohio Dominican is one of several GLIAC schools heading to the GMAC at the end of the year.
 
Despite a low scoring result for the top scoring offense in Division II, the Lakers will nonetheless advance to the GLIAC Tournament Championship on Sunday, and will have a chance to improve on Friday night's effort with a shot at their 10^th straight GLIAC Tournament title. Grand Valley State will face Michigan Tech, 1-0 winners of the other semifinal game, in that Sunday matinee. In previous action this season between the two teams, GVSU emerged victorious in a 1-0 road tilt in Houghton, Michigan.