GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport women's lacrosse team celebrated their seniors on Sunday and added icing to the cake with an 11-9 win over Northern Michigan. The Panthers were able to snap a five-game losing skid against the Wildcats and move into a third-place tie with the Wildcats at 2-4 in the GLIAC standings.
The Panthers came out strong with a 3-0 lead as
Blakely Malpass scored the first two goals and
Ele Darmofal added the team's third goal. Josie Lakosky cut the deficit to 3-2 as she scored 49 seconds apart late in the first quarter.
Gabby Basha increased the lead to 5-2 with a pair of goals to start the second quarter. Laine Stanton scored at 6:21 for NMU and there was a four-plus minute gap before
Maddy Haynes scored her 99th career goal at 1:39 for a 6-3 lead.
Emily Radke opened the third quarter scoring for the Wildcats at 13:17 and it would be seven-plus minutes before
Theadora Krueger made it 7-4 at the 5:48 mark. Malpass added her third goal of the game at 2:53 for an 8-4 lead. The Panthers would get a man-up goal by
Mika Kulynych from
Jenna Gillis at 1:28 and Krueger got her second goal of the quarter with 19 seconds left to make it 10-5 after three quarters.
Lakosky herself kept the Wildcats in the game as she scored all four of her team's goals in the fourth quarter. Malpass added her fourth goal at 4:20, but a furious comeback fell two goals shy. Lakosky scored at 3:36 from Taylor Priestley and had unassisted goals at 51 and nine seconds for the 11-9 final tally.
NMU had a total of 29 shots compared to 21 for Davenport. DU however had 17 shots on goal compared to 15 for the Wildcats. The Panthers did well in draw controls keeping it close as they won 10 of them compared to 13 for the Wildcats.
Zoe Cassell made nine saves in goal for the Panthers.
Cassidy Sanders led the team with five draw controls.
Next up is a date with Grand Valley State on Friday, Apr. 18 in Allendale at 7 PM.
