Courtesy of Kevin Meyer, GVSU Athletic Communications Assistant
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A pair of goals from Marti Corby, one in each half, lifted the Grand Valley State women's soccer team past fifth-ranked Columbus State University on Thursday Night at Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri, 3-0. The win improved Grand Valley State to 23-1-1 on the season and propels them to their fourth straight NCAA title game, where they will face #1 Western Washington University in the NCAA Championship Game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. EST.
From the onset of the game, the Cougars began fiercely pressing the Lakers, maintaining a hyper-aggressive attach that was similar to last season's title game. This early onslaught led to several early corner kicks for Columbus State, and several shots at the Laker goal, all of which were blocked or went wide of the frame.
"I'm really proud of our girls", said GVSU head coach Jeff Hosler. "They did a good job in absorbing the pressure Columbus State put us under in the first half. They are a very good side, they are the best team we've played this year, they're very well organized and the way they press in their system is very difficult to break. Our halftime conversation was that we didn't play very well, didn't maintain possession the way we would've liked to in that first half, and once we did that in the second half the game really opened up and led to our other chances to put the game away."
As the Cougars pressure slowly faded it both intensity and persistence, the Lakers began to find combinations moving forward down the field. With 11:32 left in the first half, a header by GVSU's Gabriella Mencotti off a cross by Marti Corby went wide left, but seemed to awake something inside the Laker offense.
Just a few minutes later, Corby struck paydirt off of a rebounded team save by the Cougars. After a Mencotti shot from 15 yards out was saved at the goal mouth, an alert Corby pounced on the loose ball, knocking the ball into the goal for her 11th goal of the season and fourth of the NCAA Tournament. After a few CSU shots led to Steinaway saves to close out the half, the Lakers went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
"Kendra Stauffer was great in getting the crosses in each time, beating her defender on the wing, just incredible 1 v 1 work, and she put the ball in the right place and I just did the easy job to tuck it away", said Corby.
If the game was a tale of two halves, then the second half certainly belonged to the defending champs, who looked every bit the part in the second stanza. Mencotti began the onslaught in the second half, firing a shot and forcing a save by Cougars keeper Maylyn Parsons just over a minute into the second half.
After another shot, this time by Kendra Stauffer, resulting in another Parsons save in the 51st minute, the Lakers doubled up the Cougars with a beautiful piece of work by Mencotti and Corby. After driving to the left baseline, Mencotti passed to a wide open Corby inside the goal box about 15 yards from goal. Her low, bouncing shot beat a diving Parsons for her second goal of the game, and 15th of the season.
"With the way our defense has been playing all year, we've talked about "the race to 2" being a theme in our matches, and scoring that second goal kind of settled us down. I thought in the first half we were kind of forcing the game a little bit out of the midfield, and we talked about how we need to connect the lines and play a little better with out midfielders, just being sound and possessing. When we made that adjustment, you saw why Marti Corby is one of the top players in the country, because she was able to then get
higher in the field, get a great one touch finish, and I thought she was dominant throughout the midfield in that second half."
Now in possession of a 2-0 lead, the Lakers nonetheless kept up the pressure on the suddenly vulnerable Cougar defense. Whether by fatigue, lack of confidence or a combination of the two, the Columbus State pressure had slackened significantly, and freed up the Lakers to create more dynamic scoring chances.
"We were expecting them to press just as they did last year.", Hosler said. "They were dangerous going forward, but didn't really have that one dangerous opportunity. We did a good job blocking shots, even though that led to a lot of corners. It was a matter of absorbing that pressure, especially when we weren't able to connect or possess very well, and I think we did a much better job of that in the second half."
With 19:50 left in the game, the Lakers nearly got a goal from senior Gabbie Guibord, but her header off of a corner kick was saved by a Cougar defender, and the ball was cleared. Later, a deep ball played in over top of the defense led to a breakaway for a streaking Mencotti, who out-paced two defenders before trying to beat a charging Parsons, who was able to block the shot and keep the Lakers from a third goal.
Stauffer nearly found the mark with 15:44 left in the game, as she found herself open from 30 yards out with just the keeper to beat. Her shot went wide of frame, however. The Cougars nearly answered three minutes later, as they created a good look at goal from 17 yards out that might've scored had it not ricocheted off the crossbar and out of play. The Cougars outshot the Lakers 19-14, and tallied an astounding 14 corner kicks in the game, yet were unable to get a goal past the Laker defense, and became the 20th shutout victim for GVSU this season.
"I think we are a solid defensive team, we play well together, communicate well together and we all know our roles", defender Erika Bradfield said. "Playing against a 3-5-2 is very hard to play against our 4-3-3 like that, and we practiced that for two weeks, and I think we just read each other and the back line really well, and all work as a unit together."
Finally, with 8:25 left to play in the game, Stauffer was able to corral a rebound from a shot by Jayma Martin, turned two steps back towards the center of the field and loosed a shot from 10 yards out that beat Parsons for the third and final goal of the game.
With the nail firmly in the coffin, the Lakers could be content to watch the final seconds tick off the clock, began what will surely be a short time of celebration, and begin to look forward to Saturday's title match, and a rematch with their NCAA Semifinal opponent from last season, the top-ranked and still undefeated Western Washington Vikings.
