ALLENDALE, Mich. – The No. 3 Grand Valley State Lakers begin Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) action this weekend, hosting the Parkside Rangers Friday (Oct. 11) at 7:00 PM for a Friday Nights Under the Lights and the Purdue Northwest Pride Sunday (Oct. 13) at 1:00 PM for Senior Day. Both matches will have live stats and video available through GVSULakers.com.
The Lakers have gone on a tear since suffering their lone setback of the season. The team has rattled off four straight shutout wins, outscoring their opponents 19-0 during the streak. Overall, GVSU sits at 7-1 on the season.
Ava Cook bagged two more goals in the Lakers' 7-0 win over Davenport last Sunday and leads the conference with 11 tallies through eight matches.
Riko Sagara, who will be celebrated Sunday as the lone senior on the 2019 squad, has eight assists to pace the GLIAC and has also scored twice.
"Sunday was a great way to end the non-conference portion of our season. We had five different players score and, after a fairly strong first half, really dominated the second period right off the opening whistle," said GVSU head coach
Jeff Hosler. "Conference play is a different animal, though, and our team has been preparing all week for the extra edge that comes with playing GLIAC matches."
The conference slate begins Friday with the Parkside Rangers, who come in with a 5-5 overall record. They started conference play last weekend, falling to Saginaw Valley State and a now-nationally ranked Ashland team. The Lakers beat the Rangers, 6-1, in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year and hold a 7-3 lifetime series edge, having won each of the last five meetings.
"Parkside is a proud program that has history of national success," Hosler said. "After losing their first two conference matches, they will come into this weekend hungry for points."
Alexis Baker and Delaney Benich each have four goals to pace the Rangers offense. Baker's 10 points are good for eighth in the GLIAC while Benich has scored in three of her last six matches. Four different players have seen time in goal for Parkside, with senior Adrianna Bratel getting a bulk of the minutes. She's made 41 saves this season to rank third in the conference.
Sunday will feature a pregame celebration of Sagara for Senior Day before the Lakers host Purdue Northwest. The Pride are 1-7-1 and 0-2 in the conference. Five different players have scored this season with Sydney Hansen's two goals leading the way. Leonie Heck and Bridget Grady have split time in goal. The Lakers are 3-0 lifetime against Purdue Northwest, outscoring them 25-1 in the three meetings.
"We remember that Purdue Northwest was the only team to score on us last post-season until the national championship game," Hosler said. "It's important that we pay attention to details and focus on being the best version of ourselves regardless of the opponent and play a complete 90 minutes."
With conference play getting underway for GVSU a week later than everyone else, the preseason conference favorites currently find themselves chasing points in the standings. They look to get off to a strong start and continue the hot play that has risen over the last four non-conference matches to keep their momentum going.
