That must certainly be true for the women’s lacrosse team at Northern Michigan University after junior Josie Lakosky was named Attacker of the Year for the second straight season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

With the conference awards announced on Friday, the day of the GLIAC Tournament semifinals, another half-dozen Wildcats also earned honors.

Lakosky and fellow attacker Avery Lorinser were named to the First Team All-GLIAC; midfielder Taylor Roberts, defender Natalie Thomas and goalkeeper Lauren Esposito earned spots on the Second Team; and defender Sophie Langsdale and midfielder Katelyn Wozney won positions on Honorable Mention.

At the tourney that concluded Sunday with NMU’s 12-9 loss to Grand Valley State at the Lakers’ field in Allendale, Lakosky, Lorinser and Northern junior defender Krista Pascavis were named to the All-Tournament Team.

These seven Northern Michigan University lacrosse players earned postseason All-GLIAC honors last week. In front is junior goalkeeper Lauren Esposito; in the middle row are junior midfielder Sophie Langsdale, left, and junior attacker Josie Lakosky; along the top from left are junior defender Natalie Thomas, junior attacker Avery Lorinser, sophomore midfielder Taylor Roberts and sophomore midfielder Katelyn Wozney. (Photo illustration courtesy of NMU)

Other than Lakosky, the majority of the remaining GLIAC major awards were taken by GVSU seniors after the Lakers compiled an 8-0 league record during the regular season.

Grand Valley’s Ella Boose was named Midfielder of the Year, teammate Karleigh Rothe the Defender of the Year and Sarah Krause the Goalkeeper of the Year. In addition, the Lakers’ Dominique Hamman was named Coach of the Year, while Davenport’s Kacie Stolarek earned Freshman of the Year.

More information on the awards is available at the GLIAC website, gliac.org.

Here is information on the Wildcats’ award winners:

• Josie Lakosky — The Victoria, Minnesota, attacker had to be a slam-dunk choice for the league’s main offensive award, considering that not only did she lead the GLIAC in just about every offensive category, but all of NCAA Division II, too.

Northern Michigan University’s Josie Lakosky, center, is double teamed by Davenport’s Kendall Miller, left, and Kacie Stolarek as the Wildcats player turns away from the net before backtracking and scoring during their GLIAC lacrosse game played at the Superior Dome in Marquette on April 10. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

In the regular season, she finished with 96 goals and 36 assists for 132 points, standing No. 1 nationally in goals, her 5.65 goals per game, points, 7.76 points per game and 162 shots on goal. She’s also second in D-II with 193 total shots, 11.35 shots per game and 9.53 shots on goal per game.

In just the Wildcats’ eight conference games where they went 6-2, she led in all these categories, both the raw number and the per-game average — 52 goals, 73 points, 21 assists, 100 shots, 56 draw controls and 19 caused turnovers.

Lakosky was named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week five times this winter and spring, also winning National Offensive Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks as determined by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association. For the national awards, she had eight goals and three assists in one game the first week, then 14 goals and five assists over a pair of contests the following week.

She also followed those awards up with a 10-goal, 15-point game vs. Saginaw Valley State, setting team records in each of those categories.

With another year of eligibility left, Lakosky is already No. 1 in NMU career totals for shots on goal, ground balls and caused turnovers, while she’s also set every non-goalkeeper single-season record in program history.

She finished this season with 105 goals, matching Minnie Bittell’s 219 career goals in 20 fewer games.

• Avery Lorinser — This junior from Stillwater, Minnesota, blasted onto the scene this season after not having earned any postseason honors previously. She established personal bests with 48 goals, 12 assists and 60 points, ranking second only to Lakosky in goals and points.

She finished the regular season with a career-high five goals vs. Concordia-St. Paul, scoring at least a three-goal hat trick eight times this season.

In conference games, Lorinser was third with 23 goals and 2.88 goals per game, fourth with 27 points and 3.38 points per game, and fourth with 53 shots and 6.63 shots per game.

• Taylor Roberts — This sophomore from downstate Dewitt is a faceoff specialist, ranking third in the GLIAC with 35 draw controls and fourth in her per-game average of 4.38 in league games.

She totaled 60 draw controls for a 3.53 per-game mean, each fourth in the league.

• Natalie Thomas — This junior from downstate South Lyon played a key role in the Wildcats’ defense, ranking sixth in the league with 25 caused turnovers and 1.47 per game.

In league play, she had 13 caused turnovers for 1.63 a game, ranking fifth.

This was her second All-GLIAC honor after also making the Second Team in 2024.

• Lauren Esposito — This junior from Canal Fulton, Ohio, set Northern career records for wins and games started while matching the Wildcats’ record with 330 saves in 50 games played.

In the GLIAC, she was second with a 6.17 goals against average and .533 saves percentage, and earned GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week after matching her career best of 13 saves and a .650 saves percentage in the regular-season finale vs. C-SP.

Esposito was a conference Honorable Mention pick in 2024.

• Sophie Langsdale — This junior from Rochester, Minnesota, created a great 1-2 punch along with Thomas for the Wildcats’ defense, with her 24 caused turnovers and 28 ground balls close to Thomas’ numbers.

• Katelyn Wozney — This sophomore from Elk River, Minnesota, played an important role in NMU’s draw-control scheme that helped the Wildcats lead the league in draw controls. She was third to Lakosky and Roberts in those categories with significant caused turnover and ground ball production.

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