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ALLENDALE, Mich. – Grand Valley State dominated #12 Regis, 19-8, behind a record performance by Erika Neumen in the final non-conference game of the season. It marks the second time in program history that the Lakers have upset a ranked opponent this season after defeating No. 18 Indiana (PA) on Mar. 9.
 
Neumen finished today's game with nine goals and one assist for 10 points, smashing the program's record for goals in a game and points in a game.  Both records were set by Allyson Fritts against Notre Dame (OH) in 2013, where Fritts tallied nine points and seven goals. Neumen also tied the single-season goals record of 56, with three regular-season games and the GLIAC Tournament still to play.
 
"We knew we had to come into this game firing on all cylinders to send a message to the conference and the other teams in Division II," said Neumen, who also tallied four draw controls. "I was fortunate to get some great looks from my teammates and capitalize on Regis' mistakes. Our offense kept attacking at full speed and they never adjusted."
 
Brooke Ingraham and Ryan Skomial found the back of the net for three and two goals, respectively, while Skomial also tallied two assists and Ingraham one. Lowe led both teams with four assists in the win, while Carolyn Kraus pulled down a team-high five draw controls.
 
The defense shined through the abysmal weather conditions during the game for the Lakers (10-4, 4-0 GLIAC), holding the third-highest scoring offense in Division II to their lowest goal total of the season.
 
"We played today with nothing to lose," said captain Alyssa Neumen, who caused one turnover in the upset win and helped keep Regis' leading scorer Emily Behr to just one goal. "We wanted to show the country what we're made of, and I definitely think we did that today. It was tough playing a team like Regis right after yesterday's game, but we knew we needed to be ready to play."
 
In the seven games since the 14-5 loss to No. 3 Lindenwood on Mar. 24, GVSU has allowed only 23 goals and held opponents to just 3.29 goals per game, bringing down their season goals allowed total to 7.28 through 14 games. While the defense has been suffocating during the seven game winning streak, the offense has been just as dangerous, scoring 124 goals and averaging 17.71 per game.
 
"We went back to working on the fundamentals," the senior Neumen continued. "We worked on communicating better, improving our slides and positioning, and pushing each other to get better every day."

"Our team chemistry has clicked a lot better and the confidence of the team has improved," the sophomore Neumen said. "The defense and Sarah in goal have really stepped up. They've been playing awesome since day one and are still improving. The whole team has been playing with more confidence, which helped us with today's game."
 
Niki Jacobs led the charge today with two of the team's 10 caused turnovers and four ground ball pick-ups, while Sarah Zwilsky made 14 saves to pick up win number 10 for the sophomore goalkeeper.
 
"We didn't really pay attention or care what they were ranked," Zwilsky said. "They were just another team today, and our defense played outstanding in shutting them down."
 
Neumen took the game's opening draw control down the field and found the back of the net just 13 seconds into the contest, foreshadowing things to come on the day. Regis (9-4, 4-1 RMAC) tied the game a little over a minute later, but a run of four unanswered goals by the Lakers gave the home team an early 5-1 lead only eight minutes into the contest.
 
Goals by Erin Steiner and Emily Elkins allowed the Rangers to pull to within two before Kira Dosenberry cashed in her eight goal of the season off a pass from Neumen. Regis pulled back to within three before Skomial and Rachel Leibovitz both tickled the twine on free-position shots to put the score at 8-4 with 12:31 left in the half.
 
Maribel Gallegos tallied an unassisted goal with 1:03 left in the half to make it a three-goal game, but Lowe connected with Ingram for the sophomore's second goal of the half with three seconds left to give GVSU a 9-5 lead going into halftime.
 
With the skies clearing up, Grand Valley State scored three unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the second half to pull the Laker advantage to seven, with Kraus' 10th goal of the season sandwiched between Neumen's fourth and fifth goals of the day.
 
Regis made it a six-goal game with an Emily Behr tally, but the high-flying Laker offense strung together a run of five goals in eight minutes to go up by 11 on the Rangers. Two Regis goals in the span of two minutes put an end to the running clock, but two more goals by Neumen gave the game its final score.
 
Grand Valley State held an advantage in nearly every major statistical category on the day. They outshot Regis 31-25, put 27 shots on goal to their opponent's 22, committed one fewer turnover than Regis, and pulled down two more draw controls.
 
While the idea of winning the GLIAC regular season title for the third consecutive season is becoming more and more of a reality, no one on the team is looking ahead on the schedule.
 
"We're just taking it one game at a time," said Zwilsky. "We know we want to host the conference tournament again, but we definitely can't afford to look ahead."
 
Grand Valley State welcomes Findlay (5-6, 3-1 GLIAC) to GVSU Lacrosse/Track & Field Stadium this coming Friday (Apr. 17) at 7 p.m. The Lakers will then close out their home regular season schedule while honoring their graduating seniors against Tiffin (8-6, 4-0 GLIAC) on Sunday (Apr. 19) at 1 p.m.