On the night of a storm that knocked out all the power across campus, the Grand Valley State club lacrosse team was powered down 10-9 by Davenport in the first game of the season Tuesday, Feb. 28.

The first quarter seemed to be a death sentence for GVSU playing in the Kelly Family Sports Center. The first goal went to Davenport just two minutes and 13 seconds into the game. The Lakers answered back, however, tying the game 1-1.

Shortly after, Davenport went on a streak of five unanswered goals to take a 6-1 lead halfway through the second quarter. GVSU broke the unanswered goal streak by adding three of their own before the half and holding Davenport to only one goal, going into halftime with a 7-4 deficit.

“It would have been really easy to throw in the towel after we were down 6-1 to a very good team,” said GVSU coach Tim Murray. “We battled back and fought hard. We had some opportunities and you can’t miss out on those opportunities and expect to be a very good team.”

Throughout the course of the game the Lakers committed 25 turnovers which is 14 more than their goal of 11.

After the first half, GVSU goalie Kyrn Stoddard was a little bruised up after taking a barrage of shots from Davenport’s attackers.

“We had a pretty good idea of what they were doing coming in,” Stoddard said. “After the first quarter we came together and kind of reiterated together what they were doing and that seemed to work out.”

Coming out of halftime it seemed as though the Lakers were figuring out Davenport’s strategy. They were playing better, and the momentum seemed to be on their side.

GVSU kept that momentum going and scored a goal 16 seconds in to the second half, cutting the Panther lead to only two points. But, that would be as close as the Lakers would get, as the rest of the game was a back and forth affair where the Lakers could not cut the lead to less than two.

At least until the final two minutes. Within 39 seconds of each other, the Lakers netted two goals to cut the lead to one with 56.3 second left in the contest. GVSU seemed to be completely on the offensive.

The only thing that Davenport could do to stop them was win the face off and run out the clock. That’s exactly what they did.

“I know they wanted it just as much as we did,” said defender Joey Seiler. “They were out here fighting and working hard. They just won the battle. They played smarter than us today.”

This loss was not a step back, however. There is a reason why there is more than one game in a season.

The men have a short break now before they take a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee for three games, with one of their tougher games coming against Florida Gulf Coast.

The rest of March is also a tough schedule for the Lakers. They are scheduled for games against Dayton and a trip to South Barrington, Illinois for another three game stint with one of their games against lacrosse powerhouse St. John’s.

GVSU closes out their spring season taking on Michigan State before the playoffs begin.

The Lakers have had great success in the playoffs and they hope to continue that tradition into this year’s competition.