Box Score ASHLAND, Ohio – The AU women's soccer team ran into one of the strongest teams in the country in Sunday's (Nov. 6) GLIAC Tournament Championship Game as No. 3 Grand Valley State sent the Eagles to a 2-0 defeat in Allendale, Mich.
The loss ended the Eagles' tremendous run in their first-ever GLIAC Tournament appearance. AU beat Ferris State on Tuesday (Nov. 1), 1-0, in Ashland, and then advanced on penalty kicks after a scoreless draw with Ohio Dominican in the semifinal on Friday (Nov. 4).
On Sunday, the Eagles and sophomore goalkeeper Rebecca Plescia (Parma, Ohio/Padua) entered the game with a 393-minute scoreless streak.
They extended that streak to 412 minutes before Charlie Socia deposited a free-kick header past Plescia in the 19th minute. It was Socia's fourth goal of the season.
After that, the Eagles (9-8-2) were forced to chase the game against the Lakers, who were able to possess the ball for a majority of the game. GVSU has allowed just five goals all season, including just two on its home field.
The Lakers out-shot the Eagles, 34-2, in the game and had an 8-1 advantage on corner kicks. Plescia stopped a season-high 13 shots in the game, including a few that kept the Eagles within striking distance.
Grand Valley State (18-0-2) finally put the lid on the game in the 89th minute when it forced a foul against senior Savannah Garside (Grove City, Ohio) for which she was sent off. Ashley Botts connected on the free kick from 20 yards by putting it into the lower left corner past Plescia. It was the 17th goal of the season for Botts.
The game put a cap on a season in which the Eagles had their highest win total and above-.500 winning percentage since the 2005 season.
The Eagles are trying to bring the program back to the level of its glory days of the late 1990s and early 2000s when they were perennial contenders in the Midwest Region and the national stage. Of the 23 goals the Eagles scored this season, 15 were scored by freshmen in their first years in the program under second-year head coach Glenn Francis.
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