ALLENDALE – The No. 5 Grand Valley State women's soccer team is set to open the 2025 season on the road at No. 16 Ashland on Thursday, September 4^th at 6:30 PM. The Lakers will close the opening weekend on Saturday, September 6^th at 2:30 PM at Cedarville.

Ashland: Watch | Live Stats
Cedarville: Watch | Live Stats

The Lakers will begin the 2025 season under new head coach Katelyn Longino. Longino was named the sixth head coach in program history and joins the Lakers after spending seven seasons as an associate head coach at the University of Iowa. During her time at Iowa, Longino helped lead the Hawkeyes to two BIG Ten Tournament Championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
GVSU returns 15 players from last season, including five players that started in the Elite Eight match. Defenders Kacy Lauer and Mackenzie Ford return for their senior campaign and will look to lead the Laker defense that allowed just nine goals in 2024. Lauer was named a United Soccer Coaches third team All-American and was a first team All-Region and All-GLIAC performer a season ago. Ford appeared in all 90 minutes in 16 games last season and ranked in the top five in minutes played.
 
Offensively, sophomore Sarah Fromm returns after leading the Lakers with five goals in her freshman campaign. GVSU also returns junior forward Alli French who was an All-GLIAC performer in 2024 with four goals and 11 points. 
 
GVSU welcomes five transfers and eight freshmen to Allendale this fall. Midfielder Sonya Mehta and defender Acadia Murphy will look to make an immediate impact for the Lakers this season. Mehta joins the Lakers after spending two seasons at the University of Iowa, while Murphy comes to Allendale after spending three seasons at Ball State. Incoming freshmen Cora Conley, Cole Lance, and Ivy Wilhelm will also look to contribute for GVSU this season.
 
Goalkeepers Sara Csernyik and Macie Hunter are currently battling for the starting job for the Lakers this season. Csernyik is a redshirt freshman that transferred to GVSU this fall after spending one season at Saint Francis. Hunter is a true freshman that has also joined GVSU this fall. Both goalkeepers will look to make an impact for the Lakers this season.
 
This is the third consecutive season GVSU opens the season against Ashland. The Lakers won the last meeting 1-0 in Allendale to open up the 2024 season. GVSU is 22-11-2 all-time against the Eagles. Ashland finished the 2024 season with a 17-2-2 record. The Eagles were the top seed in the Midwest Region and fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Drury.
 
GVSU will travel to Cedarville, Ohio on Saturday to face Cedarville to close out the opening weekend. This will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs. GVSU leads the series 4-0-0 with the last meeting being in the opening weekend last season where GVSU won 1-0 in Allendale.
 
Both games will be streamed live FloSports. Visit gvsulakers.com for links to live video and live stats. Follow @gvsusoccer on Twitter for live in-game updates all weekend long.