The up-and-coming women’s lacrosse team, which will play for the 10th year as a varsity program beginning in February, has reached the GLIAC Tournament championship game each of the last three seasons, only to be thwarted by national power Grand Valley State each time.

Led by head coach Lindsey (LeMay) Majkrzak, the Wildcats will attempt to go farther with an 18-game regular season that begins in mid-February with an expected run in the GLIAC Tournament in early May.

NMU plays exactly half its games at home, including the first five, with the Superior Dome providing a comfortable home-field advantage when Midwest teams often face frigid conditions when more than half the schedule is played before the first day of spring.

The final eight games will be played in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference — all of the Wildcats’ spring schedule after 10 nonconference games are held in what is technically still winter.

Northern Michigan University’s Sophie Langsdale, right, celebrates teammate Josie Lakosky’s goal during a GLIAC women’s lacrosse game played against Grand Valley State at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The season begins with an extended homestand of a quintet of matches in a 10-day period in February — there’s a game set for 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13, against Calvin University.

That’s quickly followed by a Feb. 15 contest vs. former GLIAC member Northwood, Feb. 19 vs. McKendree, Feb. 21 vs. Wisconsin-Stout and Feb. 22 vs. Lewis.

The Calvin and Northwood games are first-time matchups for Northern.

Then comes a five-game road trip to finish off the nonleague schedule, starting with three matchups in Colorado — Monday, March 2, at Colorado Mesa, March 4 at Colorado-Colorado Springs and March 6 at Regis, a nationally ranked team last season.

A week later will be a March 13 match at Ashland, Ohio, and March 15 game at Indianapolis, two teams joining Regis and GVSU that made the rather exclusive 2025 NCAA Division II tourney field that included just 24 teams.

After the trips west and south, the Wildcats open GLIAC play at home against Saginaw Valley State at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20.

Two downstate matches follow, at Grand Valley on March 27 and at Davenport on March 29.

The next three games are at home, the final ones in the Superior Dome for the season — vs. Concordia-St. Paul at noon on Saturday, April 4, vs. Davenport at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 10, and vs. GVSU at noon on Sunday, April 12.

The regular season concludes at SVSU on April 19 and at Concordia-St. Paul in Minnesota on April 25.

Four of the five conference teams are expected to advance to the conference tourney, the semifinals on Friday, May 1, and finals on Sunday, May 3.

Fans can find the full schedule on the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under lacrosse, or a direct link is available at https://nmuwildcats.com/sports/womens-lacrosse/schedule/2026.

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