Coming off of a win against Davenport University (5-7-6) in their final regular season game, the No. 2 seeded Grand Valley State University’s women’s soccer team (11-3-6) once again faced No. 7 seed Davenport in the quarterfinals round of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) tournament.
Led by Head Coach Katie Hultin, GVSU walked away with another win 1-0, before advancing to the semifinal round where they fell in a 1-0 loss against No. 6 seed University of Wisconsin-Parkside (8-7-4).
With underclassmen making up the majority of the team, senior midfielder Mackenzie Jones said mentoring from the upperclassmen was vital going into the tournament.
“College soccer asks a lot more and those who have been on this team longer try to show and communicate that with the others,” Jones said. “We hold everyone to a very high standard, and we congratulate those who hit that standard.”
In the early minutes of the quarterfinal match, GVSU would show relentless pressure on Davenport’s goalkeeper, Bailey Gauthier, with multiple corner kicks and close shots on goal. Throughout the match, Gauthier held strong, even in the 1-0 loss for the Panthers.
After showing their defensive strengths, Davenport made an offensive push of their own to try and turn the tide.
Despite each team having plenty of chances to take the lead, the game remained scoreless heading into the halftime.
Early in the second half, the Lakers’ offense dominated time of possession, resulting in their first and only score of the game.
Following a penalty inside the box, senior forward Taylor Reid would step up and score her fourth goal of the season off of the penalty kick, giving her team the lead in the sixty-fifth minute.
This goal was all that was needed to send the Lakers to the semifinals in Marquette, Michigan, where the semifinals were hosted by Northern Michigan University which faced Parkside.
“We are definitely a very young team, but I see us going far in these tournaments. Along with our positive confidence and mindset, we just have to keep pushing game-by-game,” Isabel Imes, Lakers’ redshirt freshman goalkeeper said. “We can’t be thinking much about the future yet, but everyone on this team wants to win, and we are capable of doing so.”
Unfortunately for Imes and the Lakers, the semifinal game did not turn out the way that they had hoped.
GVSU went up against the Parkside Rangers team that had just upset the third-seeded Michigan Technological University Huskies in their previous game.
Early into the match, Parkside would find their one and only goal off of a free kick in the nineteenth minute. With the early lead, it was on the Lakers to make up the difference in a game that both teams wanted badly.
As a team, GVSU was constantly pressuring the Rangers for the remainder of the game, looking to put one in the net with the intensity building as each second ticked off the clock. Parkside’s defense would resist any late-game push for a point, and despite getting outshot 29-10, they would knock the Lakers out of the GLIAC tournament with a 1-0 victory.
With plenty of opportunities but just one goal in two games, Hultin is looking to improve the Lakers’ ability to convert on their chances going forward.
“We played very well against Parkside, but we couldn’t find the back of the net, and it was a bit frustrating. Our focus is now on the NCAA tournament,” Hultin said.
With a loss in the GLIAC semifinals, the Lakers did not get an automatic bid into the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Midwest Regional Tournament.
GVSU now has to play the waiting game to see where they will be placed for the Midwest Regional. The first round of games will start on Friday, Nov. 17.
GVSU has not lost confidence following the loss, as the Lakers believe that they are good enough to make a run in the rest of the postseason.
“We will go as far as we let ourselves. If we take care of the small details, we can beat anyone. I think the only people who can beat us is ourselves,” Imes said.
