MARQUETTE, Mich. – The No. 2 Grand Valley State Lakers opened Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play with a 4-0 win over the Northern Michigan Wildcats Friday (Sept. 17) on the road. The Lakers improve to 5-0 on the season while Northern Michigan drops to 2-3. GVSU is back in action Sunday (Sept. 19) at Michigan Tech.
 
After a back-and-forth start to the game, the Lakers finally broke through towards the end of the first half. GVSU collected the ball at midfield in the 40' and went right down the heart of the defense, with Kennedy Bearden playing Greta DeLoach through into the box. The Wildcat keeper raced for the ball, but DeLoach was able to poke it past her and take the collision to will the ball into the back of the net for the lead.
 
"That goal was huge for us heading into half time. Northern Michigan is a good, aggressive team and they made it very difficult to generate chances in front of the net. Greta made a great individual effort to get a touch on that ball and sacrificed her body to get us in front," head coach Jim Conlon said.
 
The ground game got the Lakers the lead, but they'd turn to the aerial attack to pull away in the second half. Just before the hour-mark, Taylor Reid beat her defender on the right wing and served a brilliant ball to the near post for Chantel Carranza to run under and head home. Just five minutes later, a corner combination from Alicia White and Alexa Morello launched a perfect insert for Cecilia Steinwascher, who eluded her mark to hammer home with her head into the corner netting.
 
"This is the second straight weekend with a long road trip for us and I'm very proud of the way we responded in the second half today, getting back on the front foot and dictating play. We knew this would be a challenge and that NMU would make us earn our opportunities and we did a much better job of team-oriented play late to get some quality chances that we were able to capitalize on," Conlon said.
 
Another set piece would set up the Lakers' fourth goal of the day. After a foul from 40 yards out, Makenna Schoolman lofted the ball into the box. Stephanie Sturgeon was able to find the ball in a scrum of defenders and knock it in for her second goal of the season. Callie Rich got the start in goal, playing 80 minutes before Allison Fredrick came on to finish off the fourth clean sheet of the season.
 
The Lakers head further north to face the Michigan Tech Huskies on Sunday (Sept. 19) with a 12:00 PM kickoff. Follow www.GVSULakers.com and @GVSUSoccer on social media for updates and coverage links.