The Grand Valley State women’s lacrosse team traveled to Ohio and West Virginia to take on GLIAC rival Tiffin University on Friday, March 16, and Wheeling Jesuit on Sunday, March 18.

The Lakers would first come away with a blowout 20-10 victory over Tiffin, later closing the weekend with a 22-11 win over Wheeling Jesuit. These wins bring GVSU’s record to 3-2 on the season and also mark the team’s first GLIAC game and win of the season. 

In their contest against Tiffin, the first half was a back-and-forth battle with several lead changes after GVSU scored the opening goal in the game. The Lakers would take a 10-6 lead heading into the halftime period. However, the second half was a much different story, as the Lakers finally found their offensive rhythm, outscoring Tiffin 10-4 on the way to a 20-10 victory. 

The Lakers outshot Tiffin 37-20, with 32 of the Lakers’ shots being on goal. GVSU also held the lead over Tiffin in the draw controls category, where GVSU had 23 compared to Tiffin’s 8. 

In a big win like this, the Lakers had several big scoring performances, including four different hat tricks. The Lakers’ top scoring output came from Erika Neumen, who scored five goals and made three assists for a total of 8 points on the game. Ashley Bailey, Meggan Loyd, and Meghan Datema each scored hat tricks for the Lakers. In terms of setting up her teammates, Kelley Fitzgerald also had a big game, dishing out five assists. 

In the team’s second game of the weekend, the Lakers pulled out another big victory over Wheeling Jesuit. The Lakers doubled the score of the cardinals en route to a 22-11 victory. The Lakers got out of the gate quickly, scoring the first four goals of the matchup, but the Cardinals would answer back and manage to make the game close with the first half ending 10-7. The second half saw the Lakers get hot as a team and outscore their opponents 12-4 to seal the win. 

GVSU outshot Wheeling Jesuit 47-23, with 35 shots on goal for the Lakers and only 20 shots on goal for the Cardinals. Wheeling Jesuit posted 20 turnovers compared to GVSU’s 16. The Lakers—once again—vastly outperformed their opponents in the draw control category. GVSU finished with 24, and Wheeling Jesuit finished with 11 as a team. 

The GVSU team saw several huge scoring performances, with five different players scoring at least three goals. It was Datema who led the way for the Lakers in this game, finishing with a double hat trick to make six goals. The other hat tricks were scored by Bailey, Neuman, Carly Shisler and Sarah Stagaard.

Those were not the only players to have important games for the team, however. Fitzgerald had a huge passing game, finishing with five assists. Abbi O’Neal also had a big game for the Lakers, scoring a total of five points spread across two goals and three assists. 

The Lakers will be on the road again next weekend, as they travel to Marquette on Friday, March 23, to take on GLIAC rival Northern Michigan. They will then travel to St. Paul, Minnesota, to play Concordia St. Paul on Sunday, March 25.