ALLENDALE, Mich. – The No. 17 Grand Valley State Lakers begin their 2019 campaign with a pair of road games this weekend, heading to No. 22 Lake Erie on Friday (Feb. 22) at 6:00 PM before a matchup with Indiana (Pa.) on Sunday (Feb. 24) at 1:00. These two matches were late additions to the 2019 schedule, bumping up the start of the season.
The Lakers are six-time defending GLIAC regular season champions but present a new-look team as they begin their quest to continue dominance of the conference.
Mackenzie Lawler begins her first season as head coach of the Lakers. She's just the second head coach in program history. In addition to a new coach, the Lakers also graduate 11 seniors from a year ago; several of whom were starters and key contributors to the 13-5 team from a season ago.
There are several returners that are coming off breakout years who should see a bigger role in 2019.
Carly Shisler erupted for 46 goals and 13 assists, ranking third on the team with 59 points en route to all-conference honors.
Abbi O'Neal followed up her stellar freshman season with 34 goals and 17 assists in her sophomore campaign.
Kelley Fitzgerald's 39 assists led the Lakers a season ago while she also scored eight goals in her junior season.
Sophie Conroy came on strong towards the end of her freshman year to finish with nine goals and a trio of assists.
Elizabeth Yeomans was an all-conference defender a year ago as a sophomore while
Anna Gritter and
Megan Yoshida saw significant time in the midfield. Both Abigal Dengler and
Madison Barnes saw time between the pipes in backup roles a year ago. With Brianna DeMillia graduating, they will compete to take over that role. Dengler posted a team-best .528 save percentage in limited action a season ago while Barnes made four saves in three games played.
Lake Erie is the reigning Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) champion and is one of five scheduled opponents for the Lakers in the preseason Top-25. Riley Heffron, the G-MAC Freshman of the Year for 2018, will look to improve upon her impressive season. The Storm also return the conference Offensive Player of the Year in Anna Spin, who scored 65 goals and notched 42 assists for 107 points in her junior season.
The Crimson Hawks went 9-6 last season, including a 6-6 mark in conference play. Indiana boasts an experienced group, returning almost their entire roster from a year ago. Ally Burrows led the team with 59 goals and 77 points while Adriana Greco also crossed the half-century mark with 57 goals last season.
The Lakers begin a new chapter in the program's short yet proud history. GVSU aims to build on past success and get their first chance to see how they fair against actual opponents for the first time this spring. GVSULakers.com will provide links to live stats and video while @GVSUWLAX will live-Tweet with updates.
