ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Grand Valley State women's soccer team kicked off the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 win against Missouri – St. Louis in the first round Friday (Nov. 22) morning. The Lakers improve to 13-1-7 on the season.
 
Freshman Kendall Aikens opened the scoring for the Lakers in the 24^th minute for her third of the season. Aikens made a great move to create space from the defender and made a great strike at the top left corner of the goal for the opening goal of the game. Sophomore Alli French picked up the assist for her team leading 11^th point on the season. 
 
In the second half, the Lakers would extend the lead in the 55^th minute off the foot of senior Taylor Reid for her second goal of the season with the assist by Alex Williams. Reid made a great run past the defender on the right side and was able to sneak the ball past the goalkeeper to make it a 2-0 lead. 
 
Junior Cailynn Junk would stand tall in goal for the Lakers to help claim a 2-0 shutout win. Junk posted her 10^th individual shutout of the season stopping a career high eight saves with seven coming in the second half. 
 
UMSL outshot GVSU 13-11 and 8-6 on goal. The Tritons had seven corner kicks to the Lakers five. 
 
Kendal Aikens scored her second game-winning goal of the season in 35 minutes of action. Vesna Dennison had two shots with one on goal, while playing in all 90 minutes. Amanda Palmer had two shots with one on goal in 19 minutes played. Alex Williams, Taylor Reid, and Kennedy Bearden each recorded a shot on goal. Kacy Lauer, Daan Louwerse, and Mackenzie Ford played all 90 minutes of action. 
 
GVSU moves on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and will face the winner of Maryville and McKendree first round matchup on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM CT / 2:00 PM ET in St. Louis, Missouri on the campus of Maryville. The game will be streamed live on the GLVC Sports Network.