She broke seven Wildcat season records in 2026
MARQUETTE, Mich. — Junior attacker Josie Lakosky has earned Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) and USA Lacrosse Magazine Third Team All-America honors, the first Wildcat in program history to earn All-America status.
A native of Victoria, Minnesota, Lakosky becomes the first Wildcat to earn All-America honors in NMU women’s lacrosse program history after a historic season. Lakosky now completes her 2026 campaign with two All-America honors, a Midwest All-Region First Team selection, GLIAC Attacker of the Year selection, a member of the First Team All-GLIAC, earned two National Offensive Player of the Week honors, and five GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week selection.
USA Lacrosse Magazine announced the selections on Tuesday, May 12, and the IWLCA announced the honor on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The full release from the IWLCA can be found here.
Lakosky had a year to remember in 2026, turning in the best season anyone in a Wildcat jersey has ever produced. It started in the season-opening weekend at home, where Lakosky scored 15 goals and five assists for 20 points in two games, earning GLIAC Attacker of the Week and foreshadowing what would eventually become one of the greatest seasons of Division II lacrosse that has ever been seen.
Lakosky would go on to win GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors in four of the final six weeks of the season, including National Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks.
Her first national honor came on April 7, 2026, after scoring eight goals and 11 points in one game, followed by Lakosky matching the NMU single-game goals and points record and matching the single-season goals record, becoming just the second Wildcat to eclipse 100 points in a season.
As the season went on, no record was safe. Night after night, another record fell, before it was all eventually claimed by the Wildcats’ #1.
Lakosky ended the season with 105 goals, 43 assists, 148 points, 216 shots, 179 shots on goal, 54 ground balls, 34 caused turnovers, and 126 draw controls. All of those are NMU single-season records. In just three seasons of her Wildcat career, Josie’s 219 goals also matched the program record for career goals (in 16 fewer games), she set career records in shots on goal, caused turnovers, and ground balls, and sits second in career assists, points, and shots.
Lakosky was honored with GLIAC Attacker of the Year and First-Team All-GLIAC Honors for the second year in a row as the best attacker in the conference, but it went beyond that this year.
As the Wildcats’ season ended, Josie led the entire Division II lacrosse landscape in goals, goals per game, points, points per game, and was second in shots and shots on goal per game.
As the season ended, Lakosky would earn a First Team All-Midwest Region selection en route to earning the programs’ first All-American, as she earned Third Team All-America status from both the IWLCA and the USA Lacrosse Magazine.
Not only was NMU the home to the best player in the conference or the region, but arguably the best player in the country, thanks to a season that will forever be etched in the history of Wildcat Athletics.
