The NMU club lacrosse team will host their U.P. rival Michigan Tech Huskies in the Mega Bowl Friday, April 17 in the Superior Dome.
The ’Cats are 5-3 in their spring season after winning all three games this past weekend in Wisconsin.
Freshman attack Jared Vandoort totaled 11 goals over the weekend.
Northern Michigan University won 14-3 against the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Saturday, April 11 at Stevens Point Field in Stevens Point, Wis.
NMU lacrosse president and senior midfielder Jack Gosselin said he’s seeing great team chemistry this season.
“The rookies really stepped up. I’m really proud of them,” Gosselin said. “We moved the ball around quicker, we moved some guys around and made sure everyone was playing well with each other.”
Vandoort said the offense is coming together for the ’Cats.
“The first few weekends were a little rough. I wasn’t getting the ball in the net like I wanted to,” Vandoort said. “This weekend everything just kind of came together. The whole offense was clicking.”
The ’Cats went on to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 13-5 Saturday, April 11.
In the first 30 seconds of play, senior goalie Dustin Baker was kicked out of the game for an illegal body-check.
Vandoort said he didn’t agree with the call on the field.
“It was pretty ridiculous,” Vandoort said. “The referee had no reason to make that call early in the game. The refs just let their emotions control the game, and it was pretty ridiculous, but [Baker] will come back hungry this weekend.”
Typically in the GLLL, another player on the field serves the penalty for the goalie.
The refs decided Baker would serve his own penalty, placing freshman midfielder Peter Miller in goal for the first time in his career.
Freshman attack Avi Grode said Miller was one of the main factors playing into the win for NMU.
“This was his first game of the season playing in a big game,” Grode said. “He was stepping into a big goal and really stepped up. He came out and made a lot of big saves. He really just came to play.”
This weekend, the ’Cats look to redeem themselves against the Michigan Tech Huskies in the Mega Bowl Friday night.
Earlier this season NMU lost to the Huskies 5-3 on Sunday, March 22 at the Woodside Center in Wisconsin Dells.
Grode said Saturday is the biggest game of the year for the Wildcats.
“It’s our only home game,” Gorde said. “We have a lot of fans coming, so our team is definitely going to be ready to go. We’re practicing hard this week. Tech beat us last time, so we’re hungry for the win.”
Michigan Tech junior midfielder Spencer Olson said it’s a pretty intense rival for bragging rights, but the teams are there to have a good time.
“I think earlier this season when we won, we did a really good job playing as a team,” Olson said. “We have a couple of new rookies this year that have been playing extremely well and the team as a whole is really meshing and working well together.”
The Mega Bowl is the only lacrosse game played in the U.P. all spring season.
Gosselin said a win over Tech would be the perfect way to end his career at home.
“I’m excited to get out there against a good team,” Gosselin said. “Tech beat us this year so we’re not going to take them lightly. They better be ready for a match up. Four years ago when I first started this, I had no idea what I was getting into. Now when I look in on it four years later it was everything I could have asked for and a lot more.”
