Box Score

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Playing for the first time in over two weeks, the Grand Valley State women's lacrosse team used a six-goal second half to stave off pesky Roberts Wesleyan for a 10-5 victory, their first of the 2015 season.
 
The Lakers, who received votes in the most recent Division II coaches poll and are ranked 20th in the Lacrosse Magazine media poll, are now 3-0 all-time against the Redhawks and improve to 1-2 on the year, while Roberts Wesleyan drops to 2-2 after starting the year 2-0.
 
Roberts Wesleyan put the first points on the board at 20:35 of the opening half, but Erika Neumen answered back only 33 seconds later off a feed by Ryan Skomial. Brooke Ingraham assisted on a Carolyn Kraus goal at 18:30 to give GVSU their first lead of the afternoon.
 
The two teams traded goals for the remainder of the first half, with Ingraham scoring a goal of her own at 7:24 and Neumen putting another goal in the back of the net to give the Lakers a 4-3 lead with 3:32 remaining before the half, but Loren Dunn connected with Cassley Jackowski to knot the game at 4-4 with 2:10 remaining on the clock. Neither team would get a shot off in the remaining time, and both teams went into the locker room looking for the go ahead goal.
 
Skomial ripped a shot past the Redhawk keeper off a pass from Victoria Devine for the first goal of the second half, but Roberts Wesleyan responded with a goal by Ali Fox to tie the game for the sixth time in the contest.
 
Kira Dosenberry put one in the back of the net at 12:56 to make it 6-5 in favor of the Lakers, and it would kick-start a run of five unanswered goals that put GVSU ahead for good. During this run, not only did the offense come alive, but the defense tightened up, allowing only two total shots and one shot on goal for the remainder of the second half and forcing the Redhawks into committing three turnovers and four fouls. Two of those fouls led to free-position attempts for the Lakers, which GVSU cashed in for goals by Rachel Leibovitz and Zoe Stiemann.
 
Erika Neumen led the team with three goals, putting her at 10 goals after just three games into her GVSU career. Leibovitz also put two goals in the back of the net, while Skomial, Stiemann, Devine, and Ingraham were credited with one assist.
 
Kraus picked up a game-high six draw controls, while she and Dosenberry led the team in ground balls with three each. Defensively, Skomial, Sarah Lowe, and Alyssa Neumen caused one turnover, and Sarah Zwilsky saved three shots in the win.
 
The Lakers outshot Roberts Wesleyan 22-14, picked up 20 ground balls to their 13, and were a perfect 13-13 on clears for the afternoon.
 
Grand Valley State is back in action on Thursday, when they square off with #7 Le Moyne at 3 p.m. The Dolphins are the third ranked opponent the Lakers have faced on the year.