The old adage “everything heals with time” proved to be true for the Grand Valley State University lacrosse team.

Before Monday’s matchup with Roberts Wesleyan College, the Lakers were struggling — losing three straight games in nine days from March 8 through 16.

“At the time, we were playing unlike ourselves, just completely out of sync,” junior captain Sarah Lowe said. “We were playing sloppy on offense and had one too many selfish plays. We realized we needed to change things up.”

GVSU got exactly what it needed: time off. In the two weeks leading up to Monday’s home opener with RWC, the Lakers went back to the basics.

In fact, GVSU played little seven-on-seven in that time period. Instead, the Lakers were focused exclusively on getting back to playing their brand of lacrosse.

“We needed to re-evaluate how we were playing together as a unit,” head coach Alicia Groveston said. “That was my message to the team — that we needed to get back to playing blue-collar lacrosse.”

GVSU appeared to do just that as it came out firing on all cylinders and scored 10 goals in the first 18 minutes.

The two-week break seemed to heal all the wounds the Lakers previously had, as they prevailed in a 17-4 romp of RWC.

“It’s quite strange how our team appears to have a really weird vibe playing at home,” Lowe said. “Maybe it’s the excitement of playing at home or the fact of how nice our facility is, but whatever it is, it was working for us today.”

The Lakers saw an abundance of production from a pair of freshman midfielders, Kira Dosenberry and Ryan Skomial, as the duo each posted three goals apiece.

Skomial also tallied an assist to give her four points on the day.

“I can’t score without those assists from my teammates, so that’s huge on their part,” she said. “My teammates kept feeding me with great (passes) the entire night. I really have to attribute our hard work in practice the past couple of weeks leading up to this victory.”

Another underclassmen played a big role in the Laker victory on Monday, as freshman goalkeeper Sarah Zwilsky made seven first-half saves.

She finished with 12 total saves.

“Sarah played extremely well this afternoon; she’s so much fun to watch when she’s on,” Groveston said. “We see bright things in her future. The fact that she’s only a freshman just means that she has so much room to grow.”

The Lakers will now shift their focus to defending their GLIAC title from a year ago.

First up on the conference schedule for GVSU is the University of Findlay in Ohio on Friday.

“This win was just one stepping stone to the many goals that we want to accomplish this year,” Groveston said. “We know we have a huge target on our backs. We have to stay focused and determined.”