Northern Michigan University’s Natalie Thomas, right, brings the ball down the field while defended by Aquinas’ Alex Sullivan during their college women’s lacrosse game held at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Feb. 10. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s lacrosse team set up a showdown for the top spot in the GLIAC, but weren’t able to pull out a victory against national powerhouse Grand Valley State.

The Wildcats defeated Davenport 12-7 on Friday, but were defeated by the Lakers 13-2 on Sunday. Even though GVSU was ranked No. 7 and No. 8 in the nation in separate polls last week, NMU would’ve pulled into a tie with the Lakers atop the GLIAC if the Wildcats had won Sunday.

NMU stands at 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference with one more regular-season — and conference — match left to play. Northern travels to St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday to square off against Concordia-St. Paul at 1 p.m. EDT.

NMU will finish second in the four-team GLIAC as Davenport can, at best, only pull into a tie with the Wildcats.

Here is a rundown of this past weekend’s matches:

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NMU 12, Davenport 7

On Friday evening at Grand Rapids, the Wildcats jumped out with the game’s first two goals in the opening six minutes, fending off challenges from the host Panthers (6-6, 1-3 GLIAC after the weekend) until Northern could pull away in the fourth quarter.

This marked NMU’s third straight victory and seventh in its past eight games.

DU pulled even at 4-4 midway through the second quarter and both before and after that had gotten to within a single goal on four other occasions.

NMU’s all-time — and this season’s — leading scorer Minnie Bittell broke the scoreless deadlock just over four minutes into the game by scoring on a free-position shot, her 60th goal this season. Teammate Abby Sisson made it 2-0 less than two minutes later on a shot assisted by Bittell.

Bittell and freshman teammate Josie Lakosky had mirror-image stat lines — three goals and two assists — to lead the Wildcats, while freshman goaltender Lauren Esposito stopped six shots.

In addition, Northern senior Kaitlyn Bridger had five ground balls and two caused turnovers while scoring a goal.

After the Panthers tied it 4-4 with just under six minutes remaining in the first half, NMU reeled off three straight goals that made it 6-4 at halftime and 7-4 less than two minutes into the second half. The final two goals of that series were off Lakosky shots.

Davenport kept answering back, however, and still only trailed 8-6 after the Panthers’ Maddy Haynes scored with just under a minute to go in the third quarter.

But Northern scored four of the five goals that came in the final quarter to gradually pull away.

Avery Lorinser on a goal assisted by Lakosky made it 9-6 with 88 seconds gone in the fourth, then following goals by teammates Laine Stanton and Camryn Mayer about six minutes apart, NMU held a healthy 11-6 cushion with 4:12 remaining.

The Wildcats held advantages in just about every statistical category, though not overwhelming ones. They outshot DU, 23-17; had one few turnover, 17-16; were slightly better on clears, 19 of 21 opposed to 19 of 23; had more ground balls, 17-10; more draw controls, 13-9; and more free-position shots, converting 3 of 4 vs. 2 of 2 for Davenport.

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Grand Valley 13, NMU 2

On Sunday afternoon at Allendale, the Wildcats made the short jaunt west across Kent County but didn’t find the home of nationally ranked GVSU as friendly.

Bittell scored before the first quarter was halfway gone to tie the score 1-1, but then the Lakers reeled off the next five goals and 12 of the remaining 13 to defeat their guests convincingly.

Bridger scored Northern’s other goal on a free-position attempt less than four minutes into the second half that kept NMU within 6-2 at the time.

Esposito was kept busy in front of the Wildcats’ goal, making 11 saves as GVSU held a 24-9 advantage in shots on goal and a huge 32-11 edge in total shots.

Northern freshman Natalie Thomas finished with team highs of five ground balls and three caused turnovers.

NMU had a few more turnovers, 18-15; and wasn’t as good on clears, 18 of 24 vs. 21 of 24. The Lakers also led in draw controls 13-6 and converted 3 of 5 free-position shots to just 1 of 3 for Northern.

Sydney Stone led Grand Valley with four goals, while teammate Maddy Champagne had the most points, five, with three goals and two assists. Champagne also had six ground balls and five draw controls.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.