LAKEVILLE - Whenever the LaVille girls soccer team hosts the alumni game, it is a time of excitement for everyone involved. From the alumni that come to play or come to watch, to the current high school players, to the coaches and fans, the small communities of Lakeville and Lapaz look forward to the LaVille Alumni game at Newton Park. It has been home to LaVille soccer for going on 20 years now and is special when the alumni have the chance to come back. "It means getting the alumni back to play at Newton Park again," said second-year LaVille girls coach Brandon Shafer. "Get out on the field and show their stuff." It's also an opportunity for Shafer and assistant coach Angie Dunlap to get the high school team ready for the coming season."I think it is a learning experience for our current players, too," said Shafer.  "The women that come back to play in this alumni game are some of the better players that have played.  They know the game well. They work the ball around. They have beaten us two years in a row. They do that by playing smart and passing the ball.  We can learn a lot from them." LaVille got on the board first, as Mikalah Kuskye netted a goal in the second of the 10-minute running clock quarters.That lead was short lived, as the Alumni came roaring back with three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 victory over the high school team."I see that we need to get the season started," explained Shafer.  "We need to get into some real practices.  Our technical skills are lacking a little bit . . . we'll get some of that back as we go. "I liked some of the runs we made, some of the passing that we did. We just got to hit the ground running a little in practice here and we'll get to playing better.  We did play well. We are looking forward to the season." One of the primary positions the Lancer coaches must address is that of goalie.Heaylyn Kwiatkowski picked up her diploma in June."Heaylyn graduating at the end of last year leaves a big hole," noted Shafer.  "She kept us in a lot of games last year. Shots that we should not have been giving up, she was making saves. Those are big shoes to fill  "Haley Andert, a junior, and Denni Markin is a freshmen coming in, 14 years old and maybe stepping on as a goalie this year. Will get working with them as the season gets started here. We are not sure who is going to be the starter yet.We are going to have some people step up and take a spot on the field that not a lot of people are willing to take on the field." Among those alumni in attendance were 2006 graduate Danielle (Mishler) Janiak and 2018 graduate Aryn (Eash) Good."It's nostalgic to be over here again," Eash-Good said when asked about coming back to Newton Park.  "I missed it. I missed it a lot. It is fun to see all the current high school players do all the traditions that we did when we were in high school.  And I'm on the other side. It's been awesome!"Mishler-Janiak is getting to be a veteran at the Alumni Game."This is my second year in a row and fourth time playing," said Danielle.  "We've had some alumni games before this and prior to covid.  It feels really exciting to be back out here.  It's really fun seeing all the older girls and seeing all the new ones coming up.  It keeps a lot of the community together and this alumni match brings all of us girls back together again." According to Good, following graduation from college, she is presently teaching fifth and sixth grade physical education at Riverside Intermediate.  She is also coaching high school girls soccer and high school girls basketball.For Janiak, she is presently a stay-at-home mom, with one headed to preschool and the oldest ready for sixth grade."I'm glad girls soccer is still going strong at LaVille," Janiak said when asked about LaVille girls soccer.  "I hope they stick with it and stay strong. Don't take it for granted.  Soak it up now because they'll be missing it when they graduate." Good, who recently married Jacob Good, also talked about the transition from being a student-athlete to adult life."Honestly, it's not that much different," explained Good.  "It's still time management, it's still getting work done when it's due, it's still being a good role model for those around me.  My colleagues are like my teammates, and being a coach is similar but not that much different from being a player.  Being an adult, it's like I'm not quite like being an adult yet, what am I doing.  It's been awesome staying around home and being close to family." As we closed our time, Good offered a little advice to the high school players and offered appreciation to those that organized the alumni game."Don't take this for granted.  It is going to go so fast.  Soak in the moments while you can."Thank you to everybody that put this on today.  This is awesome! We got to do this when I was in high school and then we had covid, so we had that three or four year gap.  It's good to be a part of this alumni game."