Northern Michigan University’s Lacrosse team made history last Friday night by recording its first GLIAC victory in program history, with a narrow 17-16 win against the Davenport University Panthers (DU).
The Wildcats had only one win this season, a non-conference victory over Notre Dame College in Ohio, doubling their overall win tally in a closely-fought game against the team directly above them in the GLIAC standings.
Early indications were good for Northern, as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes before allowing a Davenport goal. NMU scored four more times before the Panthers added their second and third goals halfway through the first half. NMU sophomore midfielder Graison Ringlever got the Wildcats back on the board a few minutes later, growing the score to 8-3 before Davenport added another tally to make it 8-4.
Freshman attack/midfielder Emily Dvorak grew the NMU lead to 9-4 with just over six minutes left to play in the half, but the Panthers weren’t done yet. Davenport scored three unanswered goals to close out the first half, making the score 9-7 at halftime.
After the resumption of play, Davenport continued their goal-scoring momentum, tying the game at nine goals a piece just under three minutes into the second half. Dvorak then scored two straight goals to regain the lead for the Wildcats, but the Panthers would again tie the game at 11 less than a minute later.
The two teams would trade goals until just under 12 minutes remained in the game, at which time Northern scored three straight goals in six minutes to make the score 16-13 NMU. Davenport made it 16-14 just over two minutes later, but Ringlever brought the Wildcats lead to three again with one minute to play. Davenport came charging back, scoring two goals in the final minute, but in the end their effort wasn’t enough to overcome NMU, who came away with the 17-16 victory.
NMU’s goal-scorers, in order of number of goals scored: Dvorak, with six; Ringlever, with four; freshman midfielder/attack Ellie Bahr, also scoring four; freshman attack/midfielder Tess Kostelec with two and sophomore attacker Angelica Bogden with one. In goal for the Wildcats was freshman Emily Karbaum, who made 18 saves on 34 shots.
With her 113th save of the season, Karbaum is now ranked 14th in Division II with 11.3 saves per game. Her 113 saves this season places her fourth in the GLIAC and 35th in the country.
In addition to Friday night’s win over DU, the Wildcats managed to score their 101st goal of the season, breaking last season’s total mark of 100.
Dvorak leads the team with 34 goals while Ringlever is closest with 30.
This year’s squad has also surpassed their free position goals scored, as they have scored 30 times compared to 23 last season.
The Wildcats are back in action on Friday, April 20 when they travel to Grand Valley to take on the league-leading Lakers at 7 p.m.
