Jeff Hosler would have waited until midnight to patrol the sidelines for his first match as head coach of the top-ranked Grand Valley State women's soccer team. Fortunately, he and the Lakers only had to wait until a few minutes before the clock struck 8:30 p.m. to get the 2014 campaign underway.
 
Following a heavy dose of thunderstorms, which pushed the opening kickoff back almost 90 minutes, the GVSU offense unleashed some lightning of its own in a 4-0 rout of No. 13 Quincy. The Lakers peppered the Hawks' new goalkeeper, Megan Swanson, with 11 shots on target, several of which were barely kept out of the netting.

"It felt good. It would have been really nice to finish that scoring chance 45 seconds into the game, but you're going to have some of those mistakes on the first day," Hosler said. "We've had so much we've tried to implement in these first few weeks. Overall, I'm pleased with our focus and effort throughout tonight. But putting the ball in the back of the net, and to do it four times against a very good Quincy team today, I think we can take a lot out of it.

"I think our girls did a very good job of adjusting (to Quincy's direct style of play) in a very short time period, especially with all the weather delays."

Sophomore forward Kendra Stauffer and freshman forward Gabriella Mencotti combined for three goals, two assists and eight points to get GVSU's NCAA Championship defense off to a rousing start, and extend its winning streak to 25 matches.
 
What the offense brought in potency, the defense backed up with controlled aggression. Laker defenders hounded Quincy forwards time after time, yielding a mere five shots in its season-opening victory. GVSU broke in a new goalkeeper of its own, senior Andrea Strauss, who faced just two shots all night, but dove to make a gutsy save when the match was still up for grabs early in the first half.
 
Stauffer netted the Lakers' first goal of the year off a re-directed serve from Juane Odendaal. Mencotti used her size to overpower a Quincy defender and sent a header in Stauffer's direction. It only took a few touches for the Alto, Michigan native to gain a clear shooting lane in the right side of the box and blast a shot past Swanson into the top-left corner of the frame. 
 
Eleven minutes later, Stauffer drove home a shot on a breakaway, started by a perfect through ball from Mencotti, to make it 2-0 in the 30^th minute.

"Kenny was awesome tonight. I thought today was probably her best day with us this fall," Hosler said. "She's been very sharp at training this week as well--very focused and very engaged in learning, involving teammates and helping them along. I thought she showed tremendous composure in both of her finishes. She was dangerous all night, whether the ball was at her foot or she was running into wide areas."
 
Quincy managed to slow down GVSU's attack temporarily, but Mencotti snuck behind its backline in the 75^th minute. After drawing Swanson away from the goal, and evading her with a left-footed touch, the Northville High School alum forced Hawks defender Katie Hopkins to step in front of the shot. The play resulted in a hand ball, a red card for Hopkins and a penalty kick, which Mencotti put away without much trouble to give the Lakers a 3-0 lead.

"I thought for (Gabby's) first match, she did an exceptional job, especially the impact she made in the first 10-15 minutes of the game," Hosler noted. "Her ability to get in behind, and play with her back to goal, really caused some problems for those center backs and pulled them out of shape a little bit, which allowed us to get in behind."
 
Freshman Sara Stevens tallied the first goal of her collegiate career in the 80^th minute to cap the scoring. Junior Katie Klunder served a ball from outside the 20-yard box toward the left post, where Stevens sized it up and headed in GVSU's fourth goal of the evening.
 
The Lakers will close out the Ramada Plaza Invitational with a 2 p.m. match against Truman State on Sunday afternoon at the GVSU Soccer Field.

Notes:
-GVSU extended its home unbeaten streak, which is already a Division II record, to 64 matches
-The Lakers improved to 12-0-0 against Quincy, and they are 7-0-0 against the Hawks in Allendale
-This marks the 13th consecutive season in which GVSU has won its home opener
-The Lakers improved to 16-3-0 all-time in home openers and to 12-4-3 all-time in season-opening matches
-GVSU is now 3-0-3 when facing a ranked opponent to kick off a season
-This is the eighth time in the past 10 seasons the Lakers have opened the year with a shutout
-The 4-0 win matched the third-largest margin of victory against a ranked opponent in school history. Prior to tonight, the last time GVSU beat a ranked opponent by at least four goals was back on Oct. 14, 2011 in a 5-0 win at No. 13 Northern Michigan
-With a pair of goals this evening (Sep. 5), Stauffer recorded the fourth multi-goal match of her career