The Grand Valley State University women’s soccer team continued its spring season this past weekend with a home matchup against Hope College that resulted in a 6-1 victory for the Lakers.

With Hope being an NCAA DIII college, the Lakers are able to use spring training matchups like this to experiment with different lineups and potential points of emphasis for the upcoming fall season.

After a successful conference season, the Lakers were looking forward to this game against their neighboring school. 

Freshman defender Kacy Lauer stated that she and her teammates came into the match with extreme optimism to not only secure a victory, but to have the opportunity to work as a unit and build the team chemistry that is necessary to garner loads of success during the course of a lengthy season.

“This week’s training (sessions) have been very defense and midfield focused, since those are the areas where we need to improve,” Lauer said “We’re coming out in a 3-5-2 formation, we have a solid back line of center backs and wing backs that are able to play well on the outsides and combine with the forwards for goals.”

The Lakers took control of this game on both sides of the pitch as the back line was able to prevent any of the Dutchman’s offensive attacks with the exception of one error that resulted in a goal. 

At the same time, the Laker forwards successfully overcame Hope’s defensive efforts, converting a total of six of their many opportunities to almost shut out the opponent in dominating fashion.

Heading into her second year as GVSU’s head coach, Katie Hultin was able to achieve a lot in just her first season as the team finished as the GLIAC regular-season champions, the 2022 GLIAC Champions and secured a berth in the Midwest Regional Championship that went the distance as it ended in a heartbreaking loss to Ferris State in penalty kicks.

“We continue to show a lot of growth from game to game and we are excited for what’s to come,” Hultin said. “We have two more games this spring and we have been able to get everyone some great experience.”

There is some uncertainty in potential score lines as during spring training most coaches try to get all players, from true freshman to veteran seniors, playing time in – something that has been seen in the first spring matches the Lakers have participated in thus far.

However, the mixed bag of player rotations, minutes and schemes for both offense and defense wouldn’t disrupt the Lakers’ rhythm this time around. With two more games in the spring season against reputable opponents, the next two matches should be just as exciting and unpredictable.

The Lakers will conclude their spring training against the University of Michigan (April 8) and Northwood University (April 15) with both matches being played at home with similar start times of 1 p.m.