Northern Michigan University’s Hannah Jabas, right, makes a move to get away from a Davenport defender during a GLIAC women’s lacrosse game played at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Friday, March 28, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s lacrosse team had to take a most unsatisfying split of a pair of home GLIAC games over the weekend, beating last-place Davenport before falling in overtime to national power Grand Valley State.

The Wildcats downed Davenport 9-6 before suffering the 12-11 OT loss to the national No. 16 Lakers. NMU is now 7-4 overall and 2-1 in the GLIAC, a half-game behind Grand Valley (2-0, 7-3) and tied with Concordia-St. Paul in the league standings.

NMU has rematches against both of last weekend’s combatants in less than two weeks, though they get a different pair of opponents to face this week. Northern travels to St. Paul, Minnesota, to take on conference foe Concordia-St. Paul at 1 p.m. EDT Saturday, then makes the in-state jaunt to St. Joseph, Minnesota, to take on nonleague College of St. Benedict at 1 p.m. EDT Sunday.

The rematch with GVSU is April 11 with the second-time encounter vs. Davenport on April 13, both in the Grand Rapids area.

Here are details from last weekend’s games:

NMU 9, Davenport 6

On Friday afternoon in the Superior Dome, the Wildcats took control early and fended off several late first-half and second-half challenges by the Panthers (5-4, 0-2).

Josie Lakosky, who has set then re-set the NMU single-game scoring record already this season, had a three-goal hat trick, all in the game’s first 10 minutes, to up her goal total to 35 this season in just 11 games.

Teammate Maddie Bast scored twice, both also in the first quarter, while the Wildcats’ Hannah Jabas got both her goals in the second half to help keep Davenport at bay.

Lakosky scored her first two goals about 90 seconds apart, and with Bast’s first goal and the hat-trick clincher by Lakosky, Northern built a 4-0 lead.

After DU’s Theadora Krueger broke the seal on her team’s side of the scoreboard, NMU’s Sophie Langsdale and Bast pumped in two more goals before the opening period ended to make it 6-1 entering the second.

The Panthers answered with the only two goals of the second quarter, then also got the second of the game by Ele Darmofal in the first minute of the third quarter to pull the visitors within 6-4.

Jabas answered with her first goal about four minutes later to make it 7-4, and after DU’s Blakely Malpass earned her second score later in the third, NMU’s Abby Sisson scored early in the fourth to re-establish a three-goal cushion, 8-5.

The teams traded goals down the stretch, Jabas getting her second of the day and 22nd of the season in the last two minutes for the final margin.

Northern goalkeeper Zoe Montgomery had an even day, allowing six goals but making six saves as Lakosky finished with four points by adding an assist on the game’s final goal. She also took double the shots of any other player on either team with 14, and her eight shots on goal were also the most in the game.

Jabas finished with seven shots and five on goal.

NMU owned most of the team statistics, outshooting their guests 32-20, including 19-8 in shots on goal, while also leading in draw controls 15-4 as the ground balls were even 10-10 and turnovers also the same, 17-17.

Grand Valley 12, NMU 11 (OT)

On Sunday afternoon in the dome, the Wildcats grabbed the lead near the midpoint of the opening quarter and wouldn’t give it up until the league-leading Lakers tied it to force overtime with just over seven minutes to go in regulation.

Lakosky had another big scoring day, putting in six goals on 11 shots, nine of them on goal, to up her season total to 41. Bast added in three goals as she took eight shots, six on goal. Bast also reached her 100th career point with her first goal.

Teammate Katelyn Wozney didn’t figure in the scoring, but led all players with eight draw controls as NMU’s Evita Weiche had five and Lakosky four.

The Lakers’ Ashleigh Rothe answered Lakosky with six goals while also making two assists for a game-high eight points as Zoe Ziegler had three goals and an assist.

Those GVSU players were models of efficiency as Rothe had eight total shots, and six on goal, scoring on every one of them, while Ziegler had six shots and five on goal.

After Grand Valley’s Leah Leonard scored the opening goal 2:43 in, Lakosky answered with her first goal less than a minute later to tie it 1-1.

Bast gave NMU the lead barely more than four minutes later, a lead that expanded to 5-1 by the time Langsdale added a goal and Lakosky two more with the second quarter one minute old.

The Lakers score three of the next four goals to pull within 6-4 at halftime. But Northern kept scoring for a three-goal lead and GVSU answering to pull back within two for much of the third.

Then Grand Valley scored back-to-back goals by Rothe and Ziegler just over two minutes apart to get within 9-8, though Lakosky would punch in her fifth to make it 10-8 entering the fourth.

But Northern would score just once more — Lakosky’s sixth and final tally — as GVSU got three in the fourth, the final two by Ziegler that forced OT.

Then a little less than two minutes into extra time, unheralded Emerson Holthouser of the Lakers poked in just her fourth goal this season to end it and keep Grand Valley atop the GLIAC.

Statistically, the Wildcats had narrow 26-24 edges in total shots and 15-13 in shots on goal, while NMU had more ground balls, 15-13, and far more draw controls, 17-10.

Montgomery made eight saves in the NMU net, while Kaylyn Cater and Sarah Krause combined for eight saves on the GVSU side.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the games. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.