GV soccer adds transfer for 2017 season

The Grand Valley State women’s soccer team will welcome transfer Katrina Giantsopoulos from Davis and Elkins College in the Elkins, West Virginia for the 2017 season. The Lakers fell short of a fourth consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship, but the addition of Giantsopoulos will boast the Lakers current roster.

Giantsopoulos, a 5’8” forward from Markham, Ontario, played for a prominent Canadian Club FC Durham Academy before joining Davis and Elkins. In her second season as a Senator, she led the team to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. In her freshman season, Giantsopoulos led the nation with 70 points and a 1.61 goals per game average. Her school-record 29 goals were good enough for second in the nation. She was named to the All-Midwest Region First Team and HERO Sports DII Newcomer of the Year.

The GVSU soccer program historically recruits successful transfers into the program. The most recent transfer was forward Jayma Martin who scored 30 goals to go along with 19 assists in two seasons in a Lakers uniform. In 2013, the Lakers gained transfer Katy Woolley, who helped the team to three straight national championships.

Giantsopoulos will join a Lakers squad that will lose a historically successful senior class for next season. All-Americans Marti Corby and Clare Carlson are two of the key departures. Explosive forwards Jayma Martin and Kendra Stauffer are also graduating before next season along with midfielder Gabbie Guibbord.

Although the Lakers are losing a number of seniors, the team is returning the Ron Lenz Division II Player of the Year Gabriella Mencotti. Giantsopoulos and Mencotti could be a dangerous duo on the offensive end of the field in the 2017 season.

Basketball to host Pizza Wars

The Grand Valley State men’s and women’s basketball teams will be pitted up against Wayne State Thursday, Jan. 19. During the games, GVSU will host Pizza Wars on the adjacent court in the Fieldhouse.

Pizza Wars is a competition between local pizza vendors on who has the best pizza. Participants vote on the best pizza after tasting an unlimited amount from any vendor. All pizza is free for attendees.

The five vendors participating in the event are Peppino’s Pizza, Cottage Inn Pizza, Papa John’s Pizza, Jet’s Pizza, and Hungry Howie’s Pizza. Pizza will be served from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. before the votes are counted.