Grand Valley football, women's soccer teams begin seasons on Thursday

Another season of high expectations awaits the Grand Valley football team.

Grand Valley, ranked No. 3 in the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll, begins its 2023 season against No. 2 Colorado School of Mines at 8 p.m. EDT on August 31 in Golden, Colorado. 

The game will be live streamed via the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Network website. Lakers fans can also listen to the game on WLAV-FM 96.9, WJRW-FM 106.1/WJRW-AM 1340 or WLCS-FM 98.3.

The teams also ranked in the Top-5 nationally last season, meeting in a thrilling contest at Lubbers Stadium. The Lakers pulled out a 25-22 victory, thanks to a 2-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cade Peterson to tight end Jayk Slager with 56 seconds remaining.

Grand Valley’s bid for a national championship ended with a loss in the NCAA quarterfinals to rival Ferris State while the Orediggers advanced to the national championship game before losing to the Bulldogs. 

Peterson said last season has plenty of teachable moments to serve as inspiration for this year. The Lakers won the 2022 GLIAC championship — the first since 2016 — and snapped a six-game losing streak to Ferris State along the way. 

“It’s going to take a healthy balance of learning lessons from the past and realizing what we need to work on as well as transitioning that motivation going forward,” Peterson said at the GLIAC’s Football Media Day.

Thursday’s game also features two head coaches in their first games with their respective teams. Wooster succeeds Matt Mitchell, who accepted a position with the University of Wisconsin, as the Lakers head coach while Colorado School of Mines head coach Pete Sterbick was promoted to its head coach in May.

“It’s about the process and orientation,” Wooster said at the GLIAC’s Football Media Day. “Summer workouts prepare you for camp, and camp prepares you for that opener. We’re really trying to stay focused. There’s only one way to do it, and that’s to jump right in.”

The Lakers open their season against Ashland at 5 p.m. on August 31 at the GVSU Soccer Field. The game will be live streamed via FloSports. 

The Lakers are the preseason pick by GLIAC coaches to finish first in the conference while nationally they are ranked No. 8, according to the United Soccer Coaches poll. 

Katie Hultin enters her second season as the Lakers head coach, leading them to the GLIAC regular season and postseason championships last year. The Lakers are aiming to add their third national title in four seasons too.

The Lakers return 16 players who saw game action in 2022-2023, including All-American Taylor Reid. Reid is back for her senior season after being named the Midwest Player of the Year and the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Year, scoring 15 goals in 23 games last season.

Junior goalkeeper Kendall Robertson, the GLIAC Goalkeeper of the Year, solidifies a defense which allowed just 14 goals, posted nine shutouts and combined for three more.

“We’ve got a great group of freshmen, an amazing group of returners and a couple of transfers who have really been impactful,” Hultin said. “We’ve really been building from the spring into the fall. Everyone is really clicking.”