ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State women's lacrosse team captured the 2021 GLIAC Tournament Championship title with a 21-12 decision over No. 2 Davenport on Sunday afternoon, completing the Laker conference sweep. The last tournament title won by GVSU came in the 2016 season.
Thanks to two goals from
Sophie Conroy's stick, the Lakers jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead that led to a Panther timeout. Despite a free position goal from Brenna Knoll, the Lakers regained control with goals courtesy of
Molly Bursinger,
Olivia Esposito and
Kate DeYoung to reach a 7-1 Laker lead with 18 minutes remaining before the first horn. A very high scoring first half, Davenport would net five more goals in an attempt to match the Lakers' seven.
Similar to the first half, Conroy began the second set of 30 minutes with a goal from the start. The second half was filled with back-and-forth action in each net, with the exception of a pair of back-to-back goals by both teams.
Maddy Champagne led the game with six goals, while Conroy also added a handful. DeYoung, Bursinger and Esposito each racked up a hat trick to hand the Panthers a nine-point deficit. As a team, the Lakers connected on four out of six free position attempts and won 21 draw controls.
In the net, GLIAC Goalkeeper of the Year,
Audrey Maloney, earned the win and posted three saves. Also earning minutes was
Payton Neil and
Abigail Dengler who saved two and three attempts, respectively. Defensively,
Rhys Green and
Aislynn Alkire each caused a pair of turnovers, while Bursinger, Alkire and Champagne each picked up four ground balls.
The Lakers are the only team to defeat the Panthers this year, and are the cause of all three of their losses. Sunday afternoon's nine-point margin of victory is the largest of the season between the two cross-town rivals. After earning the GLIAC Regular Season and Tournament titles in the first four years as a member of the GLIAC, both titles returned to Allendale this season after a three-year hiatus.
