LAKEVILLE - The LaVille girls soccer program continued a tradition that brings alumni together with the present day Lancer program to enjoy soccer. Since 2000, the group of ladies representing LaVille soccer, all don the cleats and enjoy an amazing time on the pitch. "It's crazy," said LaVille junior Denni Markin, who protects the net as current goalkeeper for the present-day edition of Lady Lancer soccer. "It's just mind blowing that they (alumni) are pushing out here. It prepares us for the type of competition that we are going to go against during the season. Especially the height advantage and the quickness . . . it just helps us a lot. The physical contact, the speed of the game . . . everyone is giving their all out here and we appreciate them so much!" Present day LaVille Jr-Sr high school girls soccer rolled out the welcome mat for a group of 20 Lancer girls soccer alumni at Newton Park. Erin McDougal was the eldest on the pitch as a 2003 graduate, going all the way to a fine Class of 2025 that included Brooke Edison, Mackena Deason, Ava Barrett-Heaton, Mikalah Kuskye, and Reagan Mitchell. And the competition did not disappoint! After 60 minutes of back and forth action, the alumni and current Lancers battled to a 1-1 tie. In the 47th minute, 2022 graduate Kylie Gorka found the back of the net for a 1-0 alum lead. A short time later, the present day LaVille club knotted the score at 1-1. Freshman Rory Endicott made her way inside the box, creating enough space between her and alum goalie Heaylyn Kwiatkowski for a clean look and a solid goal. When it looked like the game would end in a draw, both teams met at midfield and mutually agreed to play overtime. After a few minutes of overtime, Gorka punched the game-winner past Markin to secure the 2-1 overtime victory. At the conclusion of the match, the two teams came together as one to shake hands, take pictures and chat about the happenings during this special time. "I think this is good," said freshman Reagan Strang. "I like being out here and being able to play. It's cool to get the opportunity to play against people that have already played and know the sport." According to Strang, she plays "left wing. Basically I make a lot of runs toward the goal and have the opportunity to score goals. I like playing left wing because it's fun. I get to score and I get to pass the ball to my teammates and help them score." Strang says she has played soccer for approximately six years and, "I am happy to be here at the alumni match. Thank you." We also had a chance to chat with another freshman about her experience of playing in the alumni match. "I thought it was a lot of fun," said Madison Mishler. "I thought, if I am being honest, I thought we were going to get our butts kicked. But you know what, we held our own. A lot of the younger kids held their own too. I felt like everyone really put forth effort and really left their best on the field today." Mishler found herself playing goalie, center defensive mid (CDM), and right forward, during the match. "Honestly it's so much fun that all of the soccer alumni and upcoming (high school and junior high) teams should come to this alumni match opportunity," said Mishler when asked about the event. "If you play soccer, not only is this a fun experience, but the alumni and present players get to see all the different kinds of things they have learned over the years. I know when I was on the field and a lot of the alumni and upperclassmen were giving tips and tricks. They would say 'you are doing great but if you tweak this a bit, you would do excellent.' Honestly, it's things like that for everyone that is here to play soccer, it's what's great about soccer in this community. Everyone lifts each up and everyone is there for each other." When asked about the 2025 LaVille Lancers, Markin said, "It's a young team this year. "There is soccer experience out here ... the more experience because we've all played. We've all played together for so long growing up, so now we are all coming together as one team. We are going to continue to work through it and see how it ends up. The younger the people, the quicker they keep getting. So it's good." Markin played 18 matches in goal last season and finished with 132 saves last season with an 80% save percentage as LaVille finished with a 11-7 overall record and 2-2 in the Indiana Northern State Conference. LaVille will head to the pitch at Newton Park for its first official practice on Monday, August 4th. LaVille Alumni 2, LaVille Lancers 1 (OT) Score By Halves Alumni 0 1 1 - 2 LaVille 0 1 0 - 1 Scoring Summary First Half None Second Half Alumni - Kylie Gorka, 47th minute LHS - Rory Endicott, 57th Overtime Alumni - Gorka, 63rd