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Northern Michigan University women’s lacrosse team to open at home in Superior Dome in February

Northern Michigan University netminder Lauren Esposito, left, saves a shot by Maryville’s Jessie Hynes in the fourth quarter at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Feb. 23. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — For a nice spring sport like lacrosse, you’d think the Northern Michigan University campus would be a harsh place to play early in the season.

That would be true, unless you remember this Wildcats’ team plays its home games inside the Superior Dome where football is played in the fall.

That’s why NMU is the perfect place for just about any Midwest team to come play at the beginning of the season, even though that season actually starts in the middle of the winter in mid-February.

NMU opens the 2025 campaign with three home games before venturing south to Illinois and Missouri to begin its road schedule in early March. That might be where iffy spring conditions wreak havoc with the Wildcats.

Either way, Northern plays eight of its 17 regular-season games at home, also getting in its final two games at the dome in the second half of April, along with a few sprinkled in between.

That’s leaves nine games on the road, but only five are true road games with the other four at neutral sites.

The GLIAC postseason will be held the first weekend of May, and with the addition of Saginaw Valley State to the conference’s roster, it is uncertain whether all five teams will qualify for the tournament or just the top four.

It shouldn’t make too much difference for the Wildcats, who have been knocking on the door of perennial powerhouse Grand Valley State, which has won or shared the GLIAC regular-season title every year the league has sponsored the sport since 2013. The Lakers have also won eight of the 11 postseason tourneys, including the last four.

One chance the Wildcats might have this year to make a dent against GVSU is that the Lakers have a new head coach, Dominique Hamman, after former leader Mackenzie Lawler stepped down in August to become associate head coach at NCAA Division I Florida State.

In six years at Grand Valley, Lawler’s teams went 81-16, including a near-perfect 38-1 in conference play.

NMU has never beaten the Lakers in 16 tries, though they came oh-so-close in an 11-10 loss in the GLIAC tourney championship game in 2023, losing all three games to Grand Valley by at least 11 goals last season.

Northern’s program is in its ninth year as a varsity sport, formerly being a club team on campus, and has shown steady improvement throughout that span.

Starting with back-to-back 2-13 seasons in 2017 and 2018, the Wildcats finally breached the .500 mark for the first time in 2022, going 9-8 overall, then improving to 11-7 in 2023 and 14-5 last year.

They have been runners-up the last two years in the GLIAC regular season to GVSU, only losing conference games to the Lakers in that time.

While this might seem to be the breakout year to catch Grand Valley, one big challenge NMU will have is replacing the now graduated Minnie Bittell, who didn’t just set, but pretty much obliterated every Wildcats career offensive record.

For instance, her 219 goals from 2020-24 is more than double the next player on the list, Graison Ringlever’s 108 from 2017-20.

She’s even atop the Northern career list in some non-offensive categories, like ground balls and draw controls.

But head coach Lindsey LeMay Majkrzak, who is entering her sixth season with the Wildcats, has players back like Josie Lakosky, who had 45 goals and 96 points last season, not so bad compared to Bittell’s 72 goals and 108 points in 2024.

Also producing at least 20 goals last season was Kaitlyn Bridger, who has graduated, with 35 and Laine Stanton, who does return, with 27. Also coming back are both goalkeepers, Lauren Esposito, who saw about 85% of the minutes in 2024, and Brigid Fornek.

The Wildcats won’t have to worry about Grand Valley until the very end of March, when they’ll play the Lakers twice in a span of less than two weeks.

Before that, Northern opens with eight straight nonconference matches, including all three February games at home — vs. Walsh at 5 p.m. on Feb. 14, Wisconsin-Stout at 4 p.m. on Feb. 16 and Wisconsin-La Crosse at noon on Feb. 22.

Three road games — though one is neutral site — follow on the Wildcats’ spring break, with games at Quincy on March 5 and vs. Missouri Western on March 7, both in Quincy, Illinois, then at Maryville in St. Louis on March 9.

Two more nonconference encounters follow before the Wildcats get into GLIAC play, a home match against Lewis on March 15 and a neutral-site one vs. Indianapolis at downstate Allendale — Grand Valley’s home — on March 21.

Lacrosse newcomer Saginaw Valley State is first on NMU’s league schedule, a road game on March 23.

Then come home games vs. Davenport on March 28 and GVSU on March 30.

Four games in a row on the road are next — at conference member Concordia-St. Paul on April 5, nonconference College of St. Benedict on April 6, GVSU on April 11 and Davenport on April 13.

The St. Benedict game will be played at Concordia-St. Paul’s home in St. Paul, Minnesota, about 85 miles east of its home of St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Finally, the regular season wraps up with two last Superior Dome clashes against SVSU on April 18 and Concordia-St. Paul on April 26.

The full schedule can be found online at the NMU athletics website, nmuwildcats.com, and looking under lacrosse in the women’s sports column of its home page.

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

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