Ferris State Soccer Suffers Setback To Defending Champion GVSU In Non-League Contest

Big Rapids, Mich. - Defending national champion Grand Valley State proved to be too much for the Ferris State women's soccer team on Wednesday (Oct. 15) evening as the nationally third-ranked Lakers recorded a 7-2 victory in Allendale.

The contest between the two West Michigan rivals was the second matchup between the two teams this year following a close 3-2 league win by the Lakers on Sept. 20 in Big Rapids. However, Wednesday's outing was played as a non-league contest per the GLIAC's scheduling system.

With Wednesday's outing not counting towards the conference standings, the Bulldogs utilized 23 different players in the match, including all eight freshmen on the roster.

The Lakers got off to a quick start as Jenny Shaba notched her fourth goal of the year only 8:17 into the contest off a Gabriella Mencotti assist.

Soon after, at 10:13, Mencotti added her own goal for her 10th marker of the year with the assist credited to Marti Corby.

Nearly 14 minutes later, Corby tallied her second assist of the night on a goal from Clare Carlson, who picked up her first score of the year.

The Bulldogs finally got on the board at 44:13 when senior midfielder Riley Wood registered her third goal of the season on a shot assisted by both senior midfielder Leanne Boehm along with junior forward Casey Shauman.

After taking a 3-1 halftime lead, the host Lakers tacked on four early goals in the second half to put the game out of reach. The first came on another hookup between Mencotti and Corby off a corner kick try at 53:53 of the second period. Corby tallied her third assist of the contest with Mencotti picking up her second goal of the evening and 11th of the season.

Less than eight minutes later, at 61:18, Shaba drew the goalie out and found Charlie Socia for her third goal this year to push the GVSU advantage to 5-1. The score didn't stand for long as the Lakers added two more goals in less than two more minutes to quickly push the advantage to six goals.

Shaba scored her second goal of the night and fifth of the year at 62:14 off a pass from Tracey McCoy and soon after Mencotti finished off her hat trick by scoring her 12th marker of the year at 63:53 off a Shaba assist.

The Bulldogs scored the final goal of the contest at 79:48 when Kate Kelly found the back of the net for her first goal this season off an assist from freshman Brenna Cockerill.

Overall, Grand Valley State held a 29-9 edge in total shots, including 19 on goal to only four for Ferris State. The Lakers also received seven corner kicks compared to two for the Bulldogs, but GVSU finished with six fouls to three for FSU.

The Bulldogs' Savanna Wojtanowski suffered the setback in net for Ferris State despite making 12 saves in the contest while playing all 90 minutes. Four different Laker players combined in net to make two saves with starter Andrea Strauss credited with the victory after playing the initial 45 minutes.

FSU fell to 3-7-2 overall with the setback while the Lakers moved to 12-1-0 on the year.

Ferris State returns home for a pair of key GLIAC contests this weekend at the FSU Soccer Field in Big Rapids. The Bulldogs host Ashland on Friday (Oct. 17) at 4 p.m. (ET) before entertaining Lake Erie on Sunday (Oct. 18) at 1 p.m. (ET).

The three teams - FSU, AU and Lake Erie - presently sit in spots seven thru nine in the GLIAC standings with five regular-season league contests remaining and the top eight teams reaching the conference tournament at the end of the year.