ALLENDALE, Mich. – Grand Valley State scored early and often to jump out to a big lead and they never looked back as the 10^th-ranked Lakers walked to a 19-8 win over McKendree in the semifinal of the 2016 GLIAC Tournament.
 
With the win, Grand Valley State (14-4, 11-1 GLIAC) advances to their fourth consecutive GLIAC Tournament final, where they have won all three GLIAC Tournament titles.
 
Danielle Tunnell led all players with four goals on the evening, while Meghan Datema scored five points on three goals and two assists. Erika Neumen and Kira Dosenberry both recorded hat-tricks, and Carolyn Kraus scored two goals and dished out another two assists in the third win of the season over the Bearcats (9-10, 6-6 GLIAC).
 
Tunnell led all Laker field players with four ground balls in the game, while Neumen pulled down six draw controls, and Dosenberry, Tunnell, and Adrianna Smith paced the team defensively with two caused turnovers. In goal, Brianna DeMilia went the distance in her first GLIAC Tournament game, making 14 saves while picking up five ground balls.
 
Neumen's first goal of the contest at 24:01 of the first half gave her 136 goals for a career, placing her at the top of the list for the most goals in a career in Grand Valley State history. Neumen moved past Rachel Leibovitz, who held the record with 135 career goals, for the top spot in the record books.
 
Tunnell scored the game's first two goals in under a minute to set the tone for GV. McKendree put one back to make it a one-goal game, but strikes by Kraus, Dosenberry and Neumen put the Lakers ahead 5-1 with 24:01 still to go in the contest.
 
The Bearcats snuck one by DeMilia at 22:46, but it would be the last goal they would score as the Lakers flexed their offensive muscle by ripping the next eight goals and putting the game well out of reach and end the first half with an 11-goal lead to the top-seeded Lakers. Dosenberry scored her second and third goals of the game during the run, while Tunnell completed her hat-trick at 14:22, Kraus buried her second at 16:15 off a pass from Datema, Datema chipped in two goals, and Chelsey Bishop and Ashley Bailey goals bookended the run that lasted the rest of the first half.
 
GV picked up right where they left off with an unassisted goal from Tunnell at 29:06 and a Kraus-to-Neumen score at 27:45 to put the hosts on top by 13.
 
McKendree made a game of it midway through the second half with a string of five unanswered goals to bring the running clock – which had been in effect since 8:29 of the first half – to an end as the Bearcats clawed back to within eight. During the five-goal run, which lasted for 14:03, the Lakers had four of their shots saved by the McKendree goalkeeper.
 
Kelley Fitzgerald's score on a free-position attempt ended McKendree's small chance of an upset, and Neumen's fourth goals of the night and second off a dish by Kraus put the Lakers back up by 10 and re-instituted the running clock. A Bearcat tally at 3:22 was proceeded by the final goals of the game off shots by Ryan Skomial and Datema, closing out the game and moving GV once again into the Tournament championship game.
 
The Lakers limited McKendree to just 26 total shots on the evening while taking 37 themselves. GVSU also forced McKendree into committing 10 of their 18 turnovers while only giving the ball away eight times. The Lakers narrowly edged the Bearcats in draw controls by two while dominating in ground balls by 11, and they allowed only four free-position shots while drawing 11 themselves and cashing in on five. Grand Valley State was also incredibly efficient in clears, going 16-17 while limiting McKendree to 11-15.
 
Grand Valley State will play No. 3 seed Findlay on Sunday (May 8) at noon. The Oilers (12-7, 7-5 GLIAC) advanced to their first Tournament championship after knocking off No. 2 seed Tiffin (12-6, 10-2 GLIAC) 13-10 in the first semifinal game of the afternoon.