CARLISLE, Pa. — Player of the Game Luisa Nierhoff (Sr., White Plains, N.Y.) stopped 10 shots as No. 1-ranked/No. 2 seed/Big Ten Division Champion the University of Michigan came up big in upending No. 15/No. 7 seed/Midwest Division Champion Grand Valley State University, 15-2, in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship.
Competing at the Carlisle YMCA Aquatic Center, the Wolverines never trailed by outscoring the Lakers 4-0, 3-1, 3-1 and 6-0 in the first-to-fourth quarters, respectively, to punch Michigan’s ticket to a semifinal date at 6:20 p.m. Eastern later this evening against the victor of another quarterfinal matching No. 2/No. 3 seed/Southwest Division Champion the University of California-San Diego and No. 20/No. 11 seed/Bay Area Division Champion San Jose State University.
GVSU will take on the fallen from the UC-San Diego-vs.-San Jose State game at 7:30 p.m. in a consolation match-up to determine qualifiers for the Fifth and Seventh Place games during the 30-game tournament’s final day on Sunday, April 19.
The Maize & Blue – which previously placed first (2023, 2024), second (2010, 2014, 2016, 2025), third (2007, 2011, 2015), fourth (2012, 2013, 2022) and seventh (2009) at Nationals – blew the game open in the first quarter as Emma Laszlo (Gr., Alameda, Calif.) (5:44, man-up; 4:51, man-up) and Emma Kaipainen (Sr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) (4:17; 3:37, man-up) combined to stake the Wolverines to a 4-0 margin less than seven minutes into the contest.
Kaipainen (4:05, penalty shot) and Ella Gifford (Fr., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) (3:25) inflated the margin to 6-0 approximately midway through the second quarter prior to GVSU’s Jenna Kuiper (Sr., Hudsonville, Mich.) putting the Lakers on the scoreboard to move her team within five at 6-1. Devin Fisher (Fr., Rockford, Mich.) got the goal back for Michigan prior to halftime by lining in a five-meter penalty shot with 1:03 on the clock to make the score 7-1 at the break.
Clare Wieland (Gr., Lake Forest, Ill.) (6:10), Tara Bharadia (Jr., Palos Verdes, Calif.) (4:06, penalty shot) and Ella Gifford (Fr., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) (3:19, penalty shot) built Michigan’s lead to 10-1 in the third quarter prior to Maya Wiltrout (So., Kentwood, Mich.) accounting for the Lakers’ final blow with a man-up strike at the one second mark.
Leading 10-2 through three quarters of action, Michigan piled onto Grand Valley State in the fourth quarter as Anna Wyman (So., Ann Arbor, Mich.) (6:37; 5:47), Zannah Baker (Sr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) (4:36), Laszlo (4:00; 2:58, penalty shot) and Elle Tuttle (Jr., Hudsonville, Mich.) (1:38) combined for a 6-0 run to cap off a 16-2 victory.
Kuiper and Wiltrout accounted for the Lakers’ pair of goals to support nine combined saves by netminders Elsie Roberts (Jr., Hudsonville, Mich.) (eight) and Claire Cann (Fr., New Lenox, Ill.) (one).
Laszlo (four), Kaipainen (three), Gifford (two), Wyman (two), Wieland, Baker, Tuttle and Fisher combined for Michigan’s 15 goals.
Grand Valley State University’s Sophia Gaier (#11)
Grand Valley State University’s Jenna Kuiper (#13) attempts to block a shot by the University of Michigan
