Saturday vs. Western Washington (NCAA Championship) 3:00 PM CST:   Match Notes  l   Watch Link  l  Live Stats 

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Call it luck, call it skill, consider it fate. Whatever the case may be, the Grand Valley State women's soccer team is one match away from seizing a masterpiece four seasons in the making, having reach their fourth straight NCAA Division II national championship match. All of the cards are on the table, the matchup is set, and all that remains is the question on everyone's mind.
 
 "Can they win a fourth straight national title?"
 
That sort of outside expectation can lead to pressure for a team on the verge of accomplishing something so rare and unfathomable for even the elite women's soccer programs. Yet Grand Valley State has been here in the title game before, seven times to be exact, and has a solid grasp of what it takes to become a national champion. After all, they've done it for the past three seasons in a row, and were the preseason favorites to run the gamut and hold aloft the trophy this season as well.

This championship is different, however. This championship carries more weight, it has special meaning to the elite senior class that has led the Lakers through thick and thin this season and the three seasons prior. Not to be overlooked in the hum surrounding the matchup is the Lakers opponent, top-ranked and still undefeated Western Washington University, and the fact that the defending national champions come into Saturday's match as the underdog from a rankings standpoint. The Lakers have only met the Vikings once before, in last season's NCAA Semifinal matchup. In that game, the Lakers emerged victorious 3-2, as the Vikings became just the second team to score multiple goals on GVSU in the 2015 season.
 
Back again with a squad one year older and more experienced, the Vikings have run up a nearly unblemished record this season, bringing a 23-0-1 record into Saturday's matchup. The season is the best in program history for Western Washington, a team that is making their first NCAA title game appearance after reaching and bowing out in the NCAA Semifinals in three of the past four seasons. Facing the Vikings again in the postseason with both teams returning many of the same personnel means a familiarity with the opponent and their system that teams don't always get in a championship match.
 
"Understanding how they play the game in the sense of physicality and work rate, things of that nature, it gives us a good idea of what to expect", said GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler. "However they've done a good job of reinventing themselves this season and being more patient, possession based team that can stretch people out and possess for long periods of time.
 
Western Washington has been effective this season without being nearly as prolific as the Laker attack. The Vikings do not find themselves among the leaders of Division II in the major offensive categories, but feature several capable scorers, including 11-goal scorer Gabrielle Pelogi, who torched the back of the net against the Lakers one year ago, and three other players with at least seven goals. At 2.62 goals per game, Western Washington scores frequently enough to pose a significant threat to the GVSU backline, even after they survived the semifinal matchup against the second best offense in the country in Columbus State without conceding a strike.
 
The Laker defense has seen a collection of different attack styles, presses and formations this season, due to the variety of opponents played and the regional differences in how soccer is played. That should combine nicely with the individual talents of the GVSU defensive unit to prepare them for the unique challenges that the Vikings present on offense.
 
"All season we've seen a lot of different styles", Hosler said.  "Part of the reason why we schedule those games that we did out in LA and in Minnesota earlier in the season is to get those differing styles. We've seen it again in the last three games, with Truman State being very defensively organized, committing numbers behind the ball and making spaces really compact, Central Missouri being very good with individual defenders and athleticism, and last night with Columbus State and their pressure and numbers forward in the field. Western Washington plays a very similar style and formation to us, so there's a lot of familiarity with that. We're going to trust our kids to rely on their instincts, to play within and work in the system that we worked to create back in August."
 
Owing to their impressive pedigree and a concerted effort by all the players to escalate their level of play in the tail end of the season, the Lakers have been at their best this postseason, parading through a gauntlet of tough defenses, as well as defeating two of the top offensive teams in the country as well. The Lakers are riding a 14 game winning streak into the title game, and have racked up an impressive 23-1 goal disparity in postseason play, including six shutouts. They have knocked off three consecutive ranked opponents, two of which were top-five in Division II, and held three of four NCAA opponents scoreless.
 
"We've been playing very well defensively", Hosler said. "The girls have been very organized, we've done a good job transitioning and getting numbers back, and we've seen a lot of different styles and came through it well. Our opponent on Saturday is ranked #1 for a reason, and we know that this being our biggest challenge of the year is going to require our best effort to be successful."
 
The GVSU defense has been particularly good in the first half of games this season, as they have not allowed a single goal in the opening half of any game this season, have surrendered just six totally tallies, and have allowed just one opponent to score more than one goal. In Thursday night's semifinal match, the Lakers yielded 14 corner kicks to #5 Columbus State, the second highest scoring team in Division II, and yet yielded no goals to the Cougars
 
Grand Valley State's defensive prowess in postseason play is quite special, and has only been matched by the spectacular postseason play of senior midfielder Marti Corby, who has been red-hot as of late for the defending champions and shows no signs of cooling down. Corby had just seven goals heading into the NCAA Tournament and has scored six since, including the game-winning goal in three of the four matches, and netted a brace in Thursday's semifinal victory. After spending most of the season looking to set up her teammates and recording a nation high 24 assists in doing so, Corby has excelled at exploiting opposing defenses and reminding everyone what she is truly capable of.
 
Looking to test a Vikings defense that has allowed just seven goals all season and recorded 17 shutouts, the Lakers will bring to bear a 100-goal offense to combat the efforts of Viking goalkeeper Ashley Homer, who is making her debut for Western Washington after sitting out last season due to transfer rules. After sitting out the debut performance between these two teams last season, Homer will get her own crack at stopping the Lakers, a feat that many have tried to do, and so few have succeeded.
 
Saturday's matchup is an important and historic championship match in more ways than one. The Lakers will look to cap off their season with a historic sixth title in program history –and fourth consecutive- with a final win in the season's last match. Their mettle will be tested by the Vikings, who are hungry for championship glory of their own, a historic first title for a program that has tasted a sample of postseason glory in each of the past four seasons, only to see the Lakers seize the title. With all that hangs in the balance, and all that is at stake for this Laker side, the only question that remains is...
 
"Can they win a fourth straight national title?"