Wildcat Lacrosse’s Season Comes to an End in GLIAC Semifinals
Courtesy: Northern Michigan University
ALLENDALE, Mich. — The No. 3 seeded Northern Michigan University women’s lacrosse team kept things close in the early going but ultimately saw their season conclude with a 17-7 loss to No. 2 seed Davenport University in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament Semifinal action on Friday evening, at Grand Valley State University.
The Panthers opened up the game’s scoring with a goal at 28:51 in the first half. Just 45 seconds later, the Wildcats found the back of the net on their first shot of the game with a Katelyn Mongold goal.
Davenport was able to notch two more goals to build a 3-1 lead. At the 20:40 mark, Chloe Everson scored for NMU with an assist from Madeline Bittell. The goal was the first of Everson’s collegiate career.
Two more Panther goals followed as the No. 2 seed built their lead to 5-2. The Wildcats answered with a goal from Clara Johnson assisted by Bittell with 7:37 left in the opening half.
Emily Renfrew was next to score for NMU. Renfrew’s unassisted goal cut the lead to just one.
A little over a minute and a half later, the Wildcats evened the game at 5-5. The goal was courtesy of Renfrew with an assist from Aleya Speas.
Right before the half, Davenport scored two goals to send the teams into the break with the Panthers up 7-5.
The second half was not kind to NMU as Davenport was able to pull away with three consecutive early goals.
Renfrew put a stop to the run with an assist from Bittell, but that was followed by a 5-0 Panther run. The Wildcats got on the board one more time with Renfrew finding the back of the net with help from a Shannon Walus assist.
Davenport scored two goals in the final four minutes of the game to take the contest 17-7.
Renfrew led NMU with a team-high four goals, six shots, and four shots on goal. Everson, Mongold, and Johnson added one goal each while Mongold, Johnson, and Jessica Daniels were next for the team in shots with two each.
All of the goal scorers for the Wildcats also had a team-high three shots on goal each.
Speas had a team-high two draw controls and tied Renfrew and Aliyah Smukala for the NMU lead in ground balls with three.
Lauryn Rygiel had four caused turnovers. Heather Beebe (2) and Renfrew (1) also were able to notch tallies of the defensive stat.
Smukala was the goalkeeper for the Wildcats for all 60 minutes of action and had 12 saves.
The NMU team finishes the season 6-8 overall and 4-4 in GLIAC play. For the Wildcats, the six overall wins and four conference wins are program records.