ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Northern Michigan women's lacrosse team came away with a 15-7 victory on the road over the Golden Bears of Concordia-St. Paul behind a nine-point performance from Josie Lakosky and a career-high five goals from Avery Lorinser. The Wildcats used a dominant 5-1 second quarter to take control of the game and never looked back.
Lauren Esposito had another impressive performance picking up the win in goal, recording 13 saves on the day with a save percentage of .650. Meanwhile, the Wildcats had a dominant showing on the draws, securing 17 draw controls compared to only 7 for the Golden Bears with Lakosky outperforming Concordia in draw controls by herself with 8.
Lakosky and Lorinser each finished the day with 5 goals with Hannah Jabas also adding a hat trick with three of her own. Vanessa Carrico and Annabelle Johnson also scored a goal.
How it happened
The Wildcats struck early as Josie Lakosky wrapped around the back of the goal before firing a pass to Vanessa Carrico who gave NMU the early advantage 79 seconds into the game, taking advantage of an early man-up opportunity. Then, a few minutes later, Avery Lorinser drove inside and doubled up the score. However, CSP was able to weather the storm as Sydney Smith and Shelby Hansen managed to tie up the score at 2-2 for the Golden Bears, and both defenses would keep it that way after 15 minutes of action.
Hannah Jabas was able to draw a foul a few minutes into the second quarter, and she converted on the free position opportunity to put the Wildcats back in front, and on the ensuing possession, Lorinser drove in from the right side to beat the CSP goaltender and put NMU back up by two. Lakosky, who entered the contest leading the nation in goals and points, would then score her first goal of the day after firing the ball between the goaltender's legs, making it three consecutive NMU goals without allowing Concordia to possess the ball. A few minutes later, Lakosky capitalized on a free-position opportunity followed by Carrico finding Annabelle Johnson to make it a 5-0 Wildcat run and force a timeout from the Golden Bears. Shelby Marik managed to stop the bleeding with 3:30 to play in the half, but Northern Michigan found themselves ahead 7-3 going into the break after a dominant showing in the second quarter that featured five consecutive scoring possessions for NMU.
Both defenses battled early in the second half, but with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Concordia's Alayna Roehl would end the scoring drought. However, the Wildcats responded in force as Lorinser scored her third goal of the day on a man-up opportunity. Jabas would then fire the ball into the net from the left side, and on the very next possession, Lakosky would complete a hat trick of her own with a free-position goal in the final minute of the third quarter to put her team ahead 10-4.
Both teams were able to add a goal early in the fourth, including the fourth of the day from Lorinser. Hansen would then pull Concordia back within five, but Lakosky was able to secure the draw control and quickly find Jabas for the answer. Lakosky continued to dominate the fourth quarter as she secured yet another draw control before finding the back of the net by herself. She would then go on to send in a high pass inside where only Lorinser could go up and get it, and Lorinser finished the job to extend the lead to 14-6. However, she was not quite finished yet, taking another draw control before finishing the play for her fifth and final goal of the day with just over a minute remaining. The Golden Bears were able to score one more goal of their own in the final minute, but it would prove to be too little, too late as the Wildcats secured the 15-7 victory.
Up Next
The Wildcats will now turn their attention to the GLIAC Tournament, hosted by Grand Valley State, where they will be the No. 2 seed with the semifinals scheduled for Friday, May 1.
