LAKELAND, Fla. – Number eight ranked Grand Valley State (0-1) could not overcome an early deficit in the season-opening match against the number one ranked and defending national champion Florida Southern Moccasins (1-0) and fell 18-12 in the first match of the season for the Lakers.
 
The Lakers were able to upset Florida Southern in the season-opening game last season 10-7, but the Moccasins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first six minutes of the game on Thursday night at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. and never surrendered the lead.
 
GVSU was led on the offensive end by freshman midfielder Abbi O'Neal as the Severna Park, Md. native scored three goals on the night. Junior attacker Ashley Bailey and midfielder Meghan Datema each capitalized on two goals against the Mocs.
 
The Lakers were able to only grab 10 draw controls on the night, with Ryan Skomial leading in the category with three draw controls. Caitlyn Hutchings was the Mocs' impact player in the circle as the freshman was able to grab six draw controls on the night, while the team controlled 21 draws total.
 
In spite of surrendering 18 goals, Brianna DeMilia posted a save percentage of 42% and thwarted 13 shots from Florida Southern in her full-game appearance and had an impressive showing.
 
Florida Southern opened the night's scoring with their first goal at the 25:03 mark of the first half from Emily Santoli. But the Mocs' star of the game was Kendall Kurge, who would score the second goal of the night just 29 seconds later. Kurge, in all, posted seven goals on just 10 shots.
 
Florida Southern would lead 3-0 before surrendering the first goal to Bailey at the 23:25 mark of the first half to pull the deficit back to two goals. The Lakers would pull within one at the 15:51 mark of the first at 6-5 off of a goal from Datema, but the Mocs would go on to score the next four goals to pull back ahead by 5.
 
GVSU would score the final two goals of the first half as Chelsey Bishop and Bailey would score at the 30 second mark and the 1 second mark in the first half to head into the half trailing just 10-7.
 
The Moccasins were able to strike with five goals before the 20-minute mark of the second half to take a commanding 15-9 lead. GVSU would trail by at least five goals for the remainder of the game as the net-minder for Florida Southern, Taylor Gillis, would stop nine Laker shots, while surrendering 12 goals. 
 
Grand Valley State returns to Bryant Stadium on Saturday at noon to take on the number two team in the country and in-region opponent Adelphi, who defeated the Lakers 16-6 last season.