Northern Michigan University’s Maddi Bast, center, makes a move to get to the net 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)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University women’s lacrosse team slipped to the middle of the pack in the GLIAC even while picking up a nonconference victory on the road last weekend.

The Wildcats lost 13-9 at conference foe Concordia-St. Paul before coming up with a dominating 15-4 victory at nonconference opponent College of St. Benedict.

That leaves NMU at 8-5 overall and 2-2 in the GLIAC, two games behind league-leading and nationally ranked Grand Valley State and a game behind second-place C-SP.

Northern has four games left in the regular season, all in the conference, two this week on the road and two more at home in the Superior Dome over the following two weeks.

The Wildcats travel to GVSU at 5 p.m. Friday in Allendale, then make the short jaunt to Grand Rapids to play at Davenport at noon Sunday.

The first of the two remaining home games will be at 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, against Saginaw Valley State.

Here are details on last weekend’s games:

Concordia-St. Paul 13, NMU 9

On Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, Minnesota, Northern fell behind early, caught up and took the lead during the third quarter, but gave it up one final time late in the third.

Leading scorer Josie Lakosky again led the Wildcats with four goals and an assist for five points as no other NMU player had one than one goal. Those single goals were scored by Hannah Jabas, Laine Stanton, Taylor Priestley, Maddi Bast and Abby Sisson.

Susie Monson paced the Golden Bears (7-5, 3-1) with five goals and an assist, while teammate Anna Fisher had three goals and Cayla Jungwirth two with an assist. All three of those players had just one shot on goal that didn’t go in the net.

Lakosky also had the game’s most shots with 12 and most shots on goal with 11. She also had four draw controls and a pair of ground balls while going 3 of 3 on free position shots.

NMU’s Zoe Montgomery and Lauren Esposito split time in goal, Montgomery taking one quarter and making two saves while allowing five goals. Esposito had three quarters in the net, stopping 12 shots while allowing eight goals.

C-SP’s Katie Colleran made 11 saves while allowing nine goals.

The hosts held a 33-23 edge in total shots and 27-20 in shots on goal, while NMU committed more turnovers, 21-16, but also had more draw controls, 13-11. C-SP held a 20-18 edge in ground balls.

The Golden Bears scored the first two goals in the opening three minutes and still led 4-1 with 90 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

Lakosky notched her second goal with 1:29 left in the first to pull NMU within 4-2, though C-SP’s Kayleigh Nelson scored in the final minute to make it 5-2 after one.

NMU scored four of the five goals in the second quarter, however, pulling even 6-6 at halftime.

Jabas, Stanton and Bast scored three unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes of the second to tie it 5-5, then after Fisher notched her third goal in the final minute, Priestley scored her goal with no time left on the clock to re-establish the tie.

Northern used the momentum it built before halftime to score the first two goals of the second half, giving the Wildcats an 8-6 lead with 9:56 left in the third. Lakosky got both those goals, each on a free position shot.

But NMU’s offense dried up after that as C-SP scored seven of the final eight goals, only a goal by Sisson early in the fourth breaking up the Golden Bears’ dominance.

NMU 15, College of St. Benedict 4

On Sunday afternoon in St. Joseph, Minnesota, the Wildcats jumped out quickly, breaking a 1-1 tie with 10 straight goals to make it a dominating 11-1 score early in the third quarter.

Lakosky led the Northern offense again, this time scoring seven goals on 12 total shots and 11 on goal, the latter two numbers the same as against Concordia-St. Paul. She also had a game-high five draw controls and added in two ground balls without a turnover.

Priestley added four goals on six total shots, all on goal, while Jabas, Stanton, Camryn Mayer and Sophie Langsdale tacked on one goal apiece.

Montgomery and teammate Dayna Carlson each had three ground balls, while NMU’s Payton Ross had four draw controls.

Montgomery and Esposito split time evenly in the Northern net, Montgomery making two saves while allowing one goal and Esposito stopping five shots while allowing three.

The Bennies’ Chloe Lewis made 10 saves while allowing 15 goals as no player from St. Benedict (3-5) had more than a single goal.

Team-wise, NMU held a 29-22 total shots advantage, including 23-9 in shots on goal. NMU had fewer turnovers, 9-6, and the smallest of edges in ground balls, 15-14, and draw controls, 11-10.

After Lakosky opened the scoring 5 1/2 minutes in, St. Benedict’s Izzy Bohlman tied it about 90 seconds later as it stayed that way for about 5 1/2 minutes.

Then it was all Northern. Jabas, Stanton, Lakosky, Langsdale and Priestley scored goals in that order during a span of less than eight minutes spanning the first two quarters to make it 6-1.

Lakosky scored four of NMU’s next five goals as the rout was on.

The teams mostly traded goals throughout the second half, though the Wildcats scored the final two by Priestley and Lakosky.