Northern Michigan University’s Maddi Bast, left, makes a move to get by Walsh's Deanna Loukas, center, during their college lacrosse game played at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The season couldn’t have started much better for the women’s lacrosse team at Northern Michigan University over the past weekend.

Not only did the Wildcats win their opening two games at home by decisive margins, but two of their players earned GLIAC player of the week honors.

Sophomore forward Josie Lakosky was named conference Offensive Player of the Week while senior defender Norah Bates earned Defensive Player of the Week.

That was all because NMU zipped past an important regional opponent, Walsh, 19-6 on Friday evening, then took down Wisconsin-Stout 18-1 on Sunday afternoon.

Northern remains at home to host Wisconsin-La Crosse at noon Saturday before hitting the road for the better part of the following month. The Wildcats play at Quincy (Illinois) on March 5, at Missouri Western on March 7 back in Quincy, Illinois, and then go to St. Louis to face Maryville (Missouri) on March 9.

NMU’s next home game after that is against Lewis on Saturday, March 15.

Lakosky, the reigning GLIAC Freshman of the Year, led Northern’s offense against Walsh and UW-Stout, totaling seven goals and an assist for eight points. Six of those goals that tied her career high for a game came against Walsh as she posted a .500 shooting percentage that day.

She also had a career-high nine draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover.

Then on Sunday, she added a goal and an assist with four draw controls and .467 shooting percentage.

Last year, Lakosky was second to NMU record-setter Minnie Bittell in goals, assists, points and game-winning goals.

Lakosky was also a GLIAC First Team selection and GLIAC All-Tournament team pick in 2024.

Bates was considered a major reason that NMU allowed just seven goals over the two games as she led all players vs. Walsh with three ground balls and three caused turnovers with two draw controls.

The first two statistics were career highs in a single game for Bates.

For NMU lacrosse games at the Superior Dome, admission for fans is free, with streaming options available through FloLive and live statistics available through links available under the lacrosse schedule on NMU’s athletics website, nmuwildcats.com.

“We have 10 freshmen and 10 sophomores on a roster of 30 (athletes) … but I think this is the deepest we’ve ever been (as a team),” said NMU head coach Lindsey (LeMay) Majkrzak, who just began her sixth season as head coach. “When you get better as a program, you’re able to bring in better recruits, and that is coming to fruition this year.”

Now with an overall record of 42-21, she is working on three straight winning seasons, going 14-5 in 2024, single-season records for the program in wins and a winning percentage of .737.

Quinn Crandall returns for her second season as NMU assistant coach after spending the 2023 season as an assistant at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Her focus is on the attacking side of the ball; last year, the Wildcats produced program records of 257 goals, 94 assists and 351 points.

Bittell also returns, now a member of the coaching staff as a student assistant. She had a star-studded career at NMU and holds almost every individual career and season record for NMU lacrosse, including career numbers of 219 goals, 97 assists and 316 points.

Previewing the season, NMU Sports Information mentioned several returning players expected to lead the Wildcats.

Another GLIAC First Teamer, Dayna Carlson, is a senior after she started every game in 2024 as a defender and was third on the team with 14 caused turnovers as she also had 24 ground balls.

Versatile senior Maddi Bast started as a forward before being converted to defender, than comes back as a forward this season after posting her third consecutive All-GLIAC honor on the Second Team last year to go with a conference all-tourney team pick.

Current defender and GLIAC Second Teamer Natalie Thomas is a sophomore, while GLIAC Honorable Mentions Lauren Esposito, a goalkeeper, and Olivia Rose, a midfielder, are also back.

Here are some details from each game last weekend:

NMU 19, Walsh 6

On Friday, the Wildcats needed just 31 seconds to make a dent on the scoreboard when Lakosky got her first of four first-quarter goals.

Though Walsh tied the score several minutes later, NMU went on a four-goal spree over about 5 1/2 minutes to take control, the second one scored by Bast and each of the other three by Lakosky.

Walsh traded goals with Northern for the first five minutes of the second quarter as the Wildcats still led 6-3 before going on its second four-goal string, a streak that lasted into the early minutes of the second half and put NMU ahead by a commanding 10-3.

Though the Cavaliers got a couple goals back in the middle of the third quarter, the Wildcats finished on a 9-1 rush to put any question of the result out of reach.

Bast joined Lakosky in scoring six goals, Bast’s second most in a game while she’s been at Northern.

NMU freshman Hannah Jabas had an impressive debut, scoring a three-goal hat trick with two assists to give her five points.

Adding two goals apiece were teammates Laine Stanton, who also had an assist, and Taylor Priestley.

Freshman netminder Zoe Montgomery played the opening 30 minutes in her inaugural appearance, making three saves on six shots, while Esposito made six saves in nine shots in the second half.

The Wildcats’ Norah Bates and Natalie Thomas led all players with three ground balls each, while Bates also led all players with three caused turnovers as Thomas chipped in one.

The Wildcats held the advantage in just about every statistic, outshooting the Cavaliers 48-22, leading in ground balls 19-14, and holding a wide 20-8 margin in draw controls, including 9-0 in the fourth quarter.

NMU 18, Wisconsin-Stout 1

On Sunday, not much could go wrong for the Wildcats, who actually built an 18-0 lead before allowing Stout’s only goal with just nine seconds remaining.

Thirteen Northern players scored at least one goal, with Emily Radke, Taylor Roberts, Sophie Langsdale, Avery Lorinser and Laine Stanton each getting a pair, while Lakosky, Camryn Mayer and Taylor Priestley netted one apiece.

This contest marked the first time since February 2023 that NMU gave up no more than one goal in a game, the last time a 21-0 whitewash of Concordia-Ann Arbor.

Stats illustrate how dominant Northern was, as the Wildcats led 28-8 in shots, 18-8 in ground balls and 12-4 in caused turnovers.

NMU scored 10 goals in the opening 15 minutes, including seven in a span of 5 1/2 minutes by Priestley, Lorinser, Radke, Lakosky, Radke again, Langsdale and Stanton.