The Grand Valley State women’s lacrosse team took on GLIAC rival Davenport at home on Friday, April 6. This was the first of two meetings between the two teams this season, and GVSU set the tone in the matchup by winning the game 18-7. 

The Lakers gave up a goal a little over a minute into the game, but after that, the team did not trail again. Carly Shisler sparked a GVSU run with two back-to-back goals herself, and that run saw seven different Lakers score a goal for the team to take an 8-1 lead. Davenport would respond with two more goals to bring the game to 8-3. Erika Neumen scored another goal to extend GVSU’s lead and put the team up 9-3, and Davenport would add one more goal to their total before the half, bringing the score to 9-4. 

The second half saw much of the same for the Lakers. Neumen opened up the scoring in the second half and started a 4-0 run that saw Neumen score twice, extending the team’s lead to 13-4. Davenport scored a goal to bring their score to 5, but Meghan Datema and Kelley Fitzgerald would fire back with two goals of their own to take a 15-5 lead. Davenport would score two more goals before the end of the game, and GVSU would add three goals to their total to win the game 18-7. 

Head coach Alicia Groveston highlighted what the Lakers have been doing well in their winning streak. 

“I think they are responding well to criticism and adversity, and I think we are able to find some areas that we can improve upon and can adjust as the game goes, which is nice to see,” Groveston said. 

As part of the Lakers’ big win, nine different players scored goals. Neumen had a huge game for the team, finding the back of the net five times in the game. Datema had a trick of her own in the game; Shisler added another hat trick; and Fitzgerald made an impact on the game in several ways, scoring a goal and assisting on four of them. 

GVSU outshot Davenport 38-16. Of those shots, the Lakers put 28 on goal, versus the 11 that Davenport put on goal. The Panthers finished the game with 24 turnovers, while GVSU only had 14. The Lakers also had the advantage in draw controls, 16 to 11. 

Despite the team’s current hot play, Groveston still believes the Lakers need to be more consistent with their play. 

“We do some really great things on both ends, but not usually consistently,” she said. “We will have a great defensive stand, and then we won’t do something outstanding on the offensive end. I think if we can utilize our takeaways on the defensive end to spur some goals on the offensive end, that would be amazing.” 

Even with the room for growth, maneuvering a difficult part of the schedule successfully has been vital to Groveston.

“We have always played a very difficult schedule, one that hasn’t always treated us the nicest,” she said. “I think at this point, we are in a situation where it’s a little bit different and we are having a lot of success. That raises the confidence level within ourselves and shows that we can do it and we can win these games.” 

The women’s lacrosse team travels to Missouri on Monday, April 9, to take on Lindenwood University.