For a moment on Sept. 28, Grand Valley State University’s twenty-four game win streak looked to be in dan­ger. Just under six min­utes into the game, FSU sopho­more mid­fielder Hillary Braun net­ted a goal to put the vis­it­ing Bulldogs on the score­board first.

The goal was the first allowed by GVSU on its home turf in nearly two years, and it gave the Bulldogs some much needed momen­tum to begin the game.

GVSU tied the game less than a minute later and added two more goals in the first half to give the Lakers a 3–1 lead going into half­time. That would end up being the final score of the game, as nei­ther team lit up the score­board in the sec­ond half.

Friday, the Bulldogs trav­eled to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Panthers of Ohio Dominican. The Panthers began the game the same way the Bulldogs started their match against GVSU by putting the first point on the board just min­utes in.

FSU tied the game later in the first half with an unas­sisted goal from fresh­man mid­fielder Stephanie Garland. This put the game at a 1–1 dead­lock, where the score would stay for the remain­der of the game, result­ing in a tie.

“We wanted to win against Ohio Dominican, and we had some good oppor­tu­ni­ties, but we just weren’t able to fin­ish,” said senior defender Mekyla Spraggins.

The results for the week bring FSU’s record to 4−5−2 over­all and 4−2−2 in the conference.

However, play­ing a dom­i­nant team such as Grand Valley so closely was a great sign for the Bulldogs, accord­ing to FSU head coach Matt Kellogg. The Lakers are ranked fifth in the coun­try among Division II teams.

Kellogg acknowl­edged the accom­plish­ment and looks for­ward to the next meet­ing of the two teams, which will take place on Oct. 29.

“When we get them next at home, that will be at the end of the sea­son and they’ll know we are going to play them tough,” said Kellogg.

Despite play­ing in a tough pair of games and not walk­ing away with a win, Kellogg said team morale has not dropped.

“In this con­fer­ence, to do what we did this week­end is a very good accom­plish­ment,” said Kellogg.

The play­ers also rec­og­nized the pos­i­tives from this weekend.

“We are still get­ting it together as a team trav­el­ing on the road,” said Spraggins. “You don’t have the com­forts of home, but we are still play­ing well and com­ing together.”

Spraggins and the rest of the team have their ulti­mate goal in sight.

The Bulldogs take on Saginaw Valley State University Oct. 8 at SVSU’s soc­cer com­plex and is sched­uled to begin at 2 p.m.

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