CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Northern Michigan University women's lacrosse team took on the University of Chicago in the first game of their final two non-conference contests. Ultimately, the Maroons came out on top 16-11 on Saturday afternoon.

Emily Renfrew continues her streak of being the first Wildcat to score as she put the first point on the board for either team with a free position goal at 29:09.

Three straight goals came next for Chigaco to give the home team the 3-1 lead. 

A Clara Johnson goal, assisted by Madeline Bittell ended the Maroons run, but the home team answered back 30 seconds later with a free position goal to go up 2-4.

The NMU offense came alive and evened the game up with two consecutive goals. Kaitlyn Bridger scored the first while Lauryn Rygiel put the second one in the net.

After another 3-0 scoring run for Chicago, Bittell scored her second goal on an assist from Jessica Daniels at the 16:09 mark. 

In the final 15:30 of the first half the teams combined for five more goals. The Maroons had two of those while the other three belonged to the Wildcats. Rygiel scored her second goal of the game, featuring an assist from Daniels, while Aleya Speas got on the board for the first time on a Bittell assist. Bittell made the final NMU goal of the half, earning a hat-trick in the process.

The Wildcats came into the second half down 9-8, but that changed very quickly. Just under three minutes into the half Bittell scored another goal to tie the contest at 9-9.

A little over a minute later at 26:01, NMU got on top with a Shannon Walus goal with an assist from Katelyn Mongold.

Chicago netted a shot to tie the game at 10-all with 21 minutes left to play, but their lead did not last long. Bittell tallied her fourth goal of the day to put the Wildcats back on top by one.

Unfortunately for NMU, the Maroons went on a 6-0 run to close out the game to take the 16-11 win over the Wildcats.

Bittell had a team-high four goals and was followed by Rygiel who had two. Each player also had two draw controls to their names while Mongold led the team with four.

Speas, Bridger, Renfrew, Walus, and Johnson each added one goal apiece to the NMU effort.

Both Bittell and Daniels each dished out two assists.

Defensively Jessica Close and Heather Beebe led NMU with two caused turnovers and two ground balls each. Cam Stilson had three ground balls while Bittell collected two for the Wildcats

Goalie Stilson grabbed 15 saves in a full 60 minutes of action.

NMU returns to the field Monday in Ohio to take on the University of Findlay. First whistle for the Wildcats' final non-conference tilt is set for 12 p.m.