The Lakeland women's soccer team traveled to Toledo today to face off against the Owens Express. The Lakers and Express had a hard-fought battle that saw the Lakers pull out a 1-0 victory. Lakeland has been ravaged by injuries this year and were again playing with a depleted roster. As a result, the game plan was simple. Lakeland was going to defend much of the game looking to shut down the Express and then take their chances on counter attacks. The Lakers executed the plan to perfection. For most of the first half, Owens was on the offensive and generated a lot of shots. However, Lakeland's keeper, Lillyan Agostine and the Laker defense, were up to the challenge as they controlled the quality of the scoring opportunities in a bend but don't break effort. Later in the half, the Lakers shifted Shelby Nagy to the forward line looking for that one offensive spark. It came at the 35 minute mark as Batoul Khaleefah fed Nagy on the right side about 25 yards out. Nagy recognized the Owens keeper up in the play and out of her net and so was able to take a shot that sailed over he keeper and into the net for the Laker lead. Lakeland then quickly reverted back to their defensive shell and protected the net strongly as they sailed to victory.

Players of the game for Lakeland were Shelby Nagy, Carli Salatino, and Lillyan Agostine.

Mallon Mentions: "Congrats to the team for a shutout win today. it was a great defensive effort and I'm proud of how hard we played. Lillyan did very well in net and Carli did a great job organizing the defense. Nagy, Lila Malkamaki, and Layla Von Berndt all did a great job as marking backs today. Batoul Khaleefah, Gabrielle Carley, and Kassie Emmett all played really well in the midfield. It was a total team effort. We'll enjoy this today and then get back at it as we have a tough game coming up on Saturday and we want to finish the season strong."   

Next Up: The Lakers will travel to Grand Rapids on Saturday (10/21) to face off against the Raiders. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 pm.