Northern Michigan University’s Josie Lakosky, right, gets by Wisconsin-Stout’s Madeline Candline as Lakosky brings down the ball down field during their college women’s lacrosse game played at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Feb. 16, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — With the opening conference game not taking place until the first day of spring in the latter half of March, the women’s lacrosse team at Northern Michigan University opens its regular season this week with the first of four home games in a row at the Superior Dome.

The Wildcats host Calvin University at 5 p.m. Friday inside the dome, probably the best place to play and watch lacrosse certainly in the northern half of the country.

The following day, Valentine’s Day on Saturday, NMU won’t be playing but will host a neutral-site game with Calvin playing Carthage College at a time that has yet to be announced.

Another day later on Sunday, Northern hosts Northwood at noon, followed by home games vs. McKendree at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, and vs. Lewis at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26.

All of these games and five more over the first half of March — including three in Colorado — will be nonconference encounters before the Wildcats begin their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule starting March 20.

On that day, NMU hosts Saginaw Valley State, then has two road games in a row vs. Grand Valley State and Davenport to end March, then picks up three home games in the dome — Concordia-St. Paul, Davenport and GVSU — over the first 12 days of April.

The regular season ends with two road games, the final one on April 25 at Concordia-St. Paul, before the GLIAC Tournament takes place over the first three days of May.

In the preseason GLIAC poll released last week, NMU was chosen to finish second.

The Wildcats received one first-place vote, certainly from otherwise unanimous preseason No. 1 Grand Valley State as coaches choose all teams but their own in the voting.

GVSU received the other four first-place tallies and 16 voting points, while NMU earned 13 points with its first-place marker. Concordia-St. Paul of St. Paul, Minnesota, was third with 10 votes, followed by Davenport with seven and Saginaw Valley State with four.

Head coach Lindsey (LeMay) Majkrzak returns as head coach of the Northern squad for her seventh season, having compiled a 53-39 record in Marquette. The 2023 GLIAC Coach of the Year has led the Wildcats to three straight conference championship game appearances, with double-digit wins in each season.

Assistant coach Quinn Crandall also returns for her fourth season.

Key returners begin with junior attacker Josie Lakosky, who went from being GLIAC Freshman of the Year two seasons ago to GLIAC Attacker of the Year last spring, which went along with First Team all-conference honors.

She broke all kinds of records for Northern in 2025, setting career highs in almost every statistic and doing it in fewer games. Lakosky broke the Wildcats’ single-game point record twice in a three-game stretch, earning GLIAC weekly honors four times and being named the national co-Offensive Player of the Week by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association thanks to a 13-point outing, just two points shy of the highest single-game point total in all of NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse last season.

In all games in 2025, Lakosky led the league with 66 goals, 5.00 points per game, 161 shots and 9.47 shots per game, finishing second both with 75 draw controls and 4.41 draw controls per contest. And she was third in the GLIAC with 19 assists.

In stats for conference games only, she led the league with 3.63 goals per game, 87 shots and 10.88 shots per game.

Sophomore midfielder Katelyn Wozney, a GLIAC First Team pick a year ago, was also named NMU Female Newcomer of the Year for all sports at the 2025 Wildcat Awards. She quickly became an integral part of NMU’s faceoff scheme, which allowed Northern to lead the conference in draw controls as she was third in the league in draw controls.

Junior midfielder Sophie Langsdale had a breakthrough season, earning her first GLIAC honor as an honorable mention. She was crucial in the midfield, becoming just one of four Wildcats to record double digits in both ground balls and caused turnovers, and was the only other Wildcat besides Lakosky to have double-digit goals and points.

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