Last year, when the Oakland University women’s lacrosse team played Michigan State at Ultimate Sports Arena in Pontiac they were defeated handily 15-3. This year, the Grizzlies were determined not to let that happen again

In a monumental upset, Oakland defeated MSU 13-10 in their rematch on Senior night back in Pontiac.

The Spartans came in ranked No. 16 in the nation, and took a crippling hit in their quest to make the Division I National Championship tournament.

The win was one of the biggest upsets in all of women’s lacrosse this year and head coach Towbey Kassa could not have been more pleased, especially after last year’s result.

“Michigan State’s been a team for many years, we were the newbies,” Kassa said. “They would beat us, kill us. My girls after last year being embarrassed by them said it’s not going to happen this year.”

The game started off very quick-paced as MSU got off to a great start, taking a 3-1 lead. OU would eventually tie the game at 3-3, but would run into some major issues toward the end of the first half.

At one point, Oakland was down three players due to penalties and lost a defender due to injury. Junior goaltender Laura Hein made several great saves during this stretch, and the defense did not allow a single goal. MSU would eventually score three unanswered tallies after the power plays were over, and would take a 6-4 lead at halftime.

In the second half, captain Ashley Krisfalusi and freshman midfielder Vittoria Wallace quickly scored to tie the game, and forced Michigan State head coach Sara Tisdale to call a fast timeout.

The timeout did not change things much, as OU came out and scored the next two goals to take an 8-6 lead. However, these were the Spartans and they would not go away quietly. They took the momentum back and tied the score up at 9-9 with less than 10 minutes to play.

At this point, Hein made several critical saves to keep the game deadlocked and it changed the entire complexion of the game. From that point on, the Grizzlies would become much more aggressive and were easily hungrier than MSU.

Oakland used quick transition plays and caught the Spartans off-guard with their speed. They would score the next four goals as Michigan State’s crowd went dead silent and Oakland’s could sense victory was close at hand.

Michigan State went into desperation mode at this point, firing everything they could at Hein in the last few minutes, but it was to no avail. When the horn sounded, the Grizzlies had their revenge for last year and the seniors finished a perfect 7-0 at home.

“This is the program’s biggest win in school history,” Kassa said. “My seniors played amazing. This is just the biggest win ever.”

In the present, this helps Oakland in their chase to make the Division II National Championship tournament coming up in Arizona in May. But of greater importance may be the future dividends a win like this creates down the road.

“Now that we’ve beat MSU, we can compete,” Kassa said. “So hopefully we get some recruits to come in. You would be surprised how many girls will stay here and play because of the lacrosse community and now that we can compete with Michigan State. It’s amazing.”

The Grizzlies would continue their great play over the weekend, as the team won all three games they had scheduled in Wheaton, Ill. and built up even more momentum for the upcoming postseason run.

Oakland’s record stands at 13-1 after the weekend, and the team will be heading to the Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse League playoffs which starts April 17 at the University of Toledo. The team holds the top seed in the tournament and will face No. 8 seeded Calvin (8-2) in the quarterfinals.

Should the women take their first game, they will continue to a more difficult game against the winner of the game between Central Michigan and Grand Valley State, as both of these teams owe OU from games earlier in the season.

If the women land in the finals, they will be facing a team at least 5.0 RPI lower than the Grizzlies.