ALLENDALE, Mich.—The Grand Valley State women's soccer team did not play it's best soccer in the home opener against the unbeaten Saginaw Valley State Cardinals. Less than their best was still enough, however, to snap the Cardinals five game winning streak to open the season with a 2-0 shutout at home.
 
Junior forward Sara Stevens netted the game winning goal in the first half for the Lakers (4-0-1), who struggled to find a rhythm on offense in a game delayed by inclement weather and inundated with physical play. Senior Jayma Martin added a late first half goal on a penalty kick to give the Lakers a two goal cushion heading into the break.
 
"Tonight was certainly not our best performance", said GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler. "I thought right from the start we were sluggish, our execution was poor as well as our possession. Truthfully in the first half we gave Saginaw all of their best chances, because we just made errors with time in space."
 
After a slow start to the first half, the Lakers would get a big jolt from playmaker Marti Corby, who caught the defense off-guard and looped in a long ball behind them for Stevens, who outpaced her defender, dribbled inside the box to the right and fired a low strike to the far side of the net past goalkeeper Claire Spleth for her second goal of the season.
 
The early goal would be followed by a myriad of fouls and unsubstantial play by both teams until late in the 32^nd minute, when freshman forward Alexis Dandridge was taken down inside the box while driving to the left of the goal. The Lakers were awarded a penalty kick, and Martin stepped up to deftly bury the kick for her team-leading sixth goal of the campaign.
 
Saginaw Valley State would get a few dangerous looks on goal from Laker miscues in the first half.  With 15 minutes left in the first half, a loose ball in front of the Laker goal presented a clear scoring chance for the Cardinals. A quick-acting Shannon Quinn was able to get in front of the frantic shot however, saving what easily could have been an equalizer.  Seven minute later, a blown clear by the Laker defense left an open look at goal once again, saved only by an intervention by Erika Bradfield to knock the ball out of the danger area.
 
After the arrival of inclement weather forced a 45 minute delay before the conclusion of the first half, the Lakers would put together a few decent looks at the net and extending their two goal lead, but neither team would do so after the break, and the game would end 2-0.
 
"We did not have very many layers to our possession or attack tonight", Hosler said. "I did not think we were very threatening besides Sara's quality moment in the first half. We were not effective tonight in our middle third to final third, our wingers weren't as dangerous taking on players and combining."
The Lakers will return to action on Sunday against Ohio Dominican, as they look to rebound from Friday's effort. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for a 1:00 P.M start, and the game can be viewed on ESPN3 and Comcast XFinity 900.