ALLENDALE, Mich. -- The Grand Valley State (5-8, 4-1 GLIAC) women's lacrosse team took on McKendree (9-5, 4-1 GLIAC) on Sunday afternoon, grabbing a 16-15 victory over the Bearcats after an Abbi O'Neal goal with just 58 seconds remaining. The Lakers were able to outscore the Bearcats 7-4 in the second half after trailing 11-9 after the first half. 

The opening goal of the game was scored just under two minutes into the game by McKendree from Dana DiPasquale for her first of a team high six goals for the game. Just 40 seconds later, the Bearcats took a 2-0 lead on a goal from Emily Nelson. Carly Shisler would score the first goal for the Lakers at the 26:36 mark of the first half to pull the score to 2-1. After another DiPasquale goal, the Lakers responded with a Meghan Datema goal at 21:48 to keep the deficit to just one, but McKendree would score two consecutive goals to pull ahead to 5-2. 

The back-and-forth action would continue as GVSU would score a pair of goals from Meggan Loyd and Ryan Skomial to trim the lead back to one goal for McKendree. After a McKendree goal at 17:05, Datema would net her second goal of the game at the 13:47 mark off of an assist from Skomial. The Bearcats and Lakers continued to trade goals over the next seven minutes, with McKendree leading 10-8 at the 5:18 mark. The Bearcats would score one more goal in the final three minutes to stretch the lead to 11-8, but Grand Valley would respond with a goal from O'Neal to cut the lead back to just two going into the half. 

Scoring in the second half was at more of a premium than the first half, with McKendree getting on the board first in the second half at 24:49. O'Neal would score her third goal of the game at 23:24, before a Bearcat goal at 22:57 to stretch the lead back to 13-10 for McKendree. The Lakers would go on to score three consecutive goals to tie up the game at 13-13, with two of the goals coming from O'Neal and the other being provided by Shisler. 

DiPasquale would score a goal for McKendree to take a one goal lead for the Bearcats in what would be their final lead of the game at 14-13. Loyd would score a pair of goals at 9:27 and 8:21 for the first GVSU lead of the game at 15-14. DiPasquale would score the final Bearcat goal at 5:25 to tie the game at 15-15 before the O'Neal goal with just 58 seconds left to take the 16-15 lead that would hold. The Bearcats were able to get a good look at a shot with under 30 seconds left but Sarah Zwilsky was able to make a save on the would-be tying goal. 

Skomial led the team in assists with two and also caused turnovers with two. Elizabeth Yeomans led the team in draw controls as the freshman had six on the day. The Lakers were led in ground balls by Zwilsky and Aimee Hite, as both recorded two ground ball recoveries. 

The Lakers now move into a tie for second in the GLIAC after the victory, with McKendree still to take on top-ranked Tiffin. GVSU matches up with Walsh on Thursday, April 27th for their next game at 6:00 pm at the GVSU Lacrosse Stadium.