ALLENDALE, Mich. – Eighth-ranked Grand Valley State came out firing on offense today as the Lakers hammered GLIAC rival Findlay in a 19-9 win at GVSU Lacrosse Stadium on Sunday afternoon. With the win, GVSU improves to 6-3 overall and 4-0 in the GLIAC.
 
Meghan Datema led the Laker offense with six goals on seven shots, four of which came on free-position attempts. The sophomore midfielder also pulled down a team-best six draw controls in the win. Chelsey Bishop tallied five points on one goal and four assists, while Erika Neumen scored four goals in the team's fifth all-time win against the Oilers, and Carolyn Kraus dished out a trio of assists.
 
Ryan Skomial and Kira Dosenberry both had two goals to go with a team-leading four ground balls and a team-best three caused turnovers. Caitlin Wojichowski led the defenders with two of the team's 13 caused turnovers. Sarah Zwilsky earned her sixth win of the season by making seven saves in all 60 minutes of action, with five of her saves coming in the second half.
 
A Datema free-position strike and a Neumen goal from Bishop put the Lakers up by two early in the game's opening half, but Findlay (6-4, 3-2 GLIAC) responded by sneaking two by Zwilsky within seconds of each other to tie the game at 2-2.
 
GVSU reeled off five consecutive goals to jump out to a five-goal lead with 14:18 left in the half. Three Laker goals in one minute – two from Neumen and one by Bishop – along with strikes from Skomial and Datema made it 7-2 halfway through the opening stanza.
 
Findlay stopped the run of answered goals at 13:16 to make it a four-goal deficit, but GV responded by a pair of Danielle Tunnell goals and one from Kraus to Datema in a player-advantage situation to make it a 10-3 contest with 10:29 left in the half. Findlay put one back, but GV answered with scores from Neumen and Datema to make it 12-4, with Datema's goal coming in another player-advantage situation. The Lakers put two more in following another Oiler goal, this time from Dosenberry and Carlyn Shisler, to give Grand Valley State a 14-5 lead going into the break.
 
The GV offense picked up right where it left off from the first half as the Lakers scored the first four goals of the second half to build an 18-5 lead over the Oilers. Datema scored her fifth and sixth goals of the afternoon during the run, while Skomial and Dosenberry both tallied their second goals of the game.
 
Kelley Fitzgerald tickled the twine with 5:01 left in the contest after Findlay put two in the net to make it a 19-8 game. Findlay scored the day's final goal with 19 seconds left on the clock to give the game its final score-line.
 
Grand Valley State held an advantage in nearly every statistical category. They outshot the Oilers (42-21), won the ground ball battle (26-16), limited the Oilers to 11 successful clears out of 16 while going 19-21 themselves, and committed only 10 turnovers to Findlay's 22. The only category GVSU did not win was draw controls, which went 16-13 in favor of Findlay.
 
The next opponent for Grand Valley State will be Walsh (3-5, 0-5 GLIAC). Their game against the Cavaliers will take place on Friday (Apr. 8) at 6 pm in the first of six consecutive road games against conference opponents.