Sept. 11-- SPRING LAKE, MI The host Spring Lake Lakers featured their Senior Night for the four players in this nascent program. They unfortunately chose the match with the EGR Lady Pioneers for this celebration. At the end of the night, it was the Lady Pioneers celebrating the victory. However, the night started, once the festivities concluded, with a staunch first quarter from the Lady Lakers. They hustled, they were gritty and they were a tough competitor to the superior skills the Lady Pioneers put on the field. This was a usual game between the two rivals, with the girls from Spring Lake trying to out-work their opponent. The first quarter ended still even at 0-0 with only forty-five minutes to decide the outcome. Shortly into the second quarter, the Lady Pioneers broke through and started to impose their will. Addi Storrs ('26) got the team from East Grand Rapids on the board with a rebound off of a shot from Camilla Volovlek ('28). Storrs gathered the ball off the goalie pads and redirected it to the lower left corner. Midway through the quarter, Avery Albers ('27) scored her first goal of the night gathering in a loose ball and firing it past the goalie to the lower right corner. This was the beginning of the barrage from the girls from EGR. They went into the halftime rest with a modest 2-0 lead, but it felt like more since the girls controlled the play for most of the opening half. Coming out of the break, it took some precision ball handling and some aggressive play in the offensive circle to get some corner opportunities. And EGR did not waste the chances. in the eighth minute, Albers took a feed from Storrs on an offensive penalty corner to slot home her second of the game. The pressure continued as EGR continued to thrust the offensive play deep into the Lakers' end of the field. Ultimately in the tenth minute, left midfielder Mayi Prado ('26), a exchange student from Spain playing with the Lady Pioneers this season, found a loose ball in the offensive circle and created some room to maneuver through the defense and fire and shot near side to create a 4-0 advantage going into the final frame. With renewed vigor, the Lakers tried to mount a challenge at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Lady Pioneers parried the jab, and mounted their counter offensive starting in the fifth minute. Albers tallied her final goal of the night, and ninth of the season on a delicious feed from Peyton Astrauskas ('27) who was just getting her night started after a number of shots wide in the first three quarters. Neel van Woudenbergh ('26), a Dutch exchange student at East, was also instrumental in getting the ball to Albers on the goal. Next, it was van Woudenbergh's turn with a drive from the top of the offensive circle just a little more than a minute later. Her opportunity was created by another wonderful pass from Astrauskas. The final tally of the game came from the stick of Volovlek, who cleaned up a superb effort from Astrauskas, recording her 3rd assist of the night and ninth of the season, in setting up Toccoa Lepley ('29) on an offensive penalty corner, whose shot remained hanging on the line until swept home by Volovlek from her position on the post. In the final stanza, stand out Senior goalie, Ellie Hilgendorf ('26), after controlling the defensive zone for much of the game had to be replaced at the 10 minute mark due to illness. Katie Hannah ('29) stepped into the cage and helped to preserve the shutout with a dynamic save with 5 minutes remaining. The game served as a tune-up for the major tilt on Saturday, Sept. 13, versus Detroit Country Day School. DCDS beat the Lady Pioneers in the quarterfinals of last year's state playoffs and opened the 2024 campaign with a 4-0 thumping of the girls from EGR. The current iteration of the Lady Pioneers are looking for a measure of redemption. Come join us at Mehney Field at the EGR Middle School at 11 AM.