PLAINESVILLE, Ohio – The No. 16 Grand Valley State Lakers earned a road victory over the No. 19 Lake Erie Storm, 14-4, Friday night in the 2019 season-opener. Eight different Lakers scored in the win, led by junior Abbi O'Neal's four goals while freshman Maggie Hammer recorded three goals and Carly Shisler added a goal and two assists. The win is the first for first-year head coach Mackenzie Lawler. 
 
The Lakers would score the first five goals of the match. After a few near misses, including one post, Skylar Simmers broke through four minutes into the opening period for the first goal of the 2019 campaign. After that, O'Neal would rattle off three straight goals, including a pair in under 50 seconds, before senior Carly Shisler found the net for the first time this season.
 
Lake Erie would respond with their only goal of the period with eight minutes until the break, but GVSU responded when O'Neal struck again, using an assist from freshman Maggie Hammer, to get the goal back and give the Lakers a 6-1 lead at halftime.
 
The Lakers would strike quickly out of break, with Olivia Esposito scoring on a free-position opportunity 3.5 minutes into the second half. Esposito, Sophie Conroy and Annie Yost all scored their first goals of the season in the second half before Hammer would score a natural hat-trick of her own down the stretch of regulation, including a free-position goal, in her Laker debut.