The women’s lacrosse team produced a palpable series of games last weekend as they faced No. 9 University of Indianapolis Greyhounds and the Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) Cardinals, looking to continue their winning streak spearheaded by the brilliant Josie Lakosky.
The Wildcats struggled downstate against the Greyhounds, with their electric offense drying up as they couldn’t find the net a single time in the second half. The Greyhounds opened the game immediately and held composure in front of the goal, eventually wearing down the Wildcats’ netminder, Zoe Montgomery, after an abundance of athletic stops. NMU found themselves down 5-1 after the first quarter, but still held out hope as they headed into the second.
Despite the Cats’ efforts, Indianapolis piled on the pressure, forcing them to turn the ball over, and just under four minutes into the second, the Green and Gold were down 7-1. Montgomery, despite her 5-foot-5 frame, seemed to be 6-foot-6 as she impressively held off a nationally ranked offense for the remainder of the quarter. NMU shifted gears and generated some offense of their own, with Lakosky and Taylor Priestly netting two goals to set the score at 8-3 before heading out for a halftime pep talk.
The Greyhounds entirely snuffed out this newfound Wildcat energy in the second half, scoring an unbelievable 10 unanswered goals. Lakosky’s creative playmaking ability was locked up, and the team was left with a completely crushing wave of disappointment after being battered by Indianapolis’ dominant defense. Head coach Lindsey Majkrzak remained optimistic about facing strong opponents in the future after this bitter learning experience.
“I hope that moving forward we can have a better performance against top teams in the country, and I do think a huge part of that is our youth. But I’m hoping we can continue to rebound from that.”
And rebound they did, as the Wildcats remained downstate and put on a clinic, completing a 20-1 demolishing of SVSU. The ‘Cats pounced in the opening minutes of the game, as Hannah Jabas scored her first goal of an overall impressive night. NMU then went on an unrelenting scoring run to close out the quarter at 6-0. With some link-up play from Lakosky and Sophie Langsdale, as well as help from Avery Lorinser and Priestley, NMU ended the half 12-1.
Continuing a spread of high-octane offense, the Wildcats closed the night out with a comfortable 20-1 demolition of the SVSU Cardinals. Jabas finished the night with six goals, followed by Langsdale’s four-goal performance, and Priestly’s three-goal, two-assist outing. The Green and Gold, after experiencing a whiplash series of games, looks forward to hosting Davenport and Grand Valley State this weekend.
