Friday vs. Tiffin: Game Notes  l  Live Stats  

ALLENDALE, Mich.— On Friday evening in Allendale, the Grand Valley State women's soccer team will continue the pursuit of their season long goals to win championships, that much is certain. However this matchup is unlike any other in GVSU soccer history, as the Lakers will look to fill as many seats as possible in their first ever game played in GVSU's Lubbers Stadium, in an attempt to break the NCAA Division II single game attendance record.
 
That record of 3,227 people has stood since the 2009 season, having been set in a matchup between then No. 1 Wayne St. (NE) and No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney at Nebraska-Kearney on August 27, 2009. The event on Friday will be named Friday Night Futbol, and will look for support from the local community to break the record.
 
"We're very excited about the opportunity to play inside Lubbers", said GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler. "It's a very unique experience, especially with the facility upgrade with the video board. It'll be neat for our players, it'll be neat for those attending and as a one-time thing, we want to make the most of that experience."
 
Coming into the game with a 7-0-1 (2-0-0 GLIAC) record, Grand Valley State will host the Tiffin University Dragons (1-7-0, 0-2-0 GLIAC) in the first game of it's kind in program history. The Lakers will face several noticeable differences between Lubbers Stadium and their typical playing venue, GVSU Soccer Field, where they have accumulated a 144-5-5 record since 2003. The matchup will be televised on ESPN3 and XFinity 900.
 
Namely, the Lakers are expected to have their largest turnout since the 2008 season, when the Lakers hosted then No.1 Tampa University at GVSU Soccer Field in front of 857 fans. With Friday's expected attendance to be in the neighborhood of the amount needed to set a new attendance record, both teams will find the game venue louder and harder to communicate in than normal. Additionally, with the football fields dimensions coming in at about 10 feet narrower than those of the soccer field, both teams will find less space on offense with which to attack the goal. That poses more of a problem to an offensive heavy side such as GVSU that relies on utilizing that spacing in the attack.
 
"All the outside factors can create an issue for either team, and they affect both teams the same way", Hosler said. "Just like any other external match conditions that can affect us, we need to prepare just like we would for any other game, and understand that the focus needs to be present. If its loud we need to communicate louder, if there's a lot of distraction going on then we need to be more focused."
 
Last seasons matchup between the two teams became a bit of a lopsided shooting gallery, as the Lakers aggressive attack led to 39 shots (19 on goal), many coming off of a season high 21 corner kicks by GVSU. In that 4-0 Laker victory, a bounty of goal scoring chances did not equate into a similar number of goals, as the execution and finishing for the Lakers fell short of expectations. In Friday's matchup, GVSU will play on a field both shorter and narrower than what they are used to at home, and will have to make the most of the limited open space they will have in certain areas.
 
"We have to maximize the space we have, establishing good width, we attack effectively in the wide areas and be effective in transition on both sides of the ball", said Hosler. "whether that's getting direct to goal if they turn the ball over, or being able to recover quickly on defense if we turn it over on the shorter field. Our movement has to be really good to free up space for each other, and at the end of it we need to be able to execute the passes to set up the goal-scoring opportunities."
 
Tiffin comes into Friday's matchup on a seven-game slide after winning the first match of the 2016 season. After shutting out Urbana 2-0 in the season opener, the Dragons have been outscored by a hefty 19-4 margin, and are just 1-7 in their third season under head coach Melissa Bigg, despite returning top performers form last season such as Svetlana Gudenkova. Gudenkova finished 11^th in the GLIAC in goals last season as a junior with nine, and figures to be a strong attacking piece for the Dragons this season.


"I expect Tiffin's best shot, as I expect every team's best shot", Hosler said. "I'm sure they are feeling as excited as we are for the opportunity to play in front of this many people on Friday. They haven't had the best results thus far this year, but they're an experience group and sometimes things can turn around quickly in those situations. If I'm in Tiffin's shoes I'm coming into the game highly motivated, seeing this game as what can be a really great turning point for their season."
 
Lost in all the fanfare of Friday night's game is the Lakers home tilt at GVSU Soccer Field on Sunday, as they will take on Ashland University at 1:00 PM.