Lake Superior State opened its 2026-27 ACHA Women's Division I season with a pair of games at Adrian College. On Friday, the Lakers were beaten 6-1 by the Bulldogs, followed by a 3-0 defeat on Saturday.

The Lakers (0-2, 0-2 CCWHA) faced a Bulldog (2-1, 2-0 CCWHA) team that Laker Head Coach Matt Parker said he expects to be in the top 15 and going to ACHA Nationals at the end of the season. Even though the Lakers have 11 new players on the roster, Parker is excited about the future and believes his team can rise to that level as well.

"We never quit, never gave up on plays," he said. "I'm really excited to see the tenacity in this group going forward, because this was a tough situation to open the season on the road at a high-level team with so many new players, and it was great to see us continue to get after it every single shift for 120 minutes this weekend."

Kailee Eiriksson scored the lone Laker goal of the weekend during Friday's contest. Flying up the left wing side, she fired a shot on target that the Bulldogs goaltender knocked down. But the defense failed to control the rebound, and Eiriksson pounced, smacking in the rebound as the puck bounced near the goal mouth. It was a tremendous effort by the junior forward, who scored her fifth career collegiate goal.

"It's a blue-collar, muck and grind team," Parker said. "Get the puck in deep and go to the net. She got a great outlet pass from one of our rookies, Tessa Rebenitsch. She makes a great move to the outside and uses her speed. She's one of the fastest on the team. Goes to the net, gets the puck on net and bangs her own rebound home.

"That was a great goal for Kailee," he continued. "It was excellent for her to show all of our first-years that this is what you have to do to score at this level."

Kaylee Lang started both games in goal for Lake State, making 50 saves in the opener.

"I think she handled it remarkably well," said Parker. "This was a big weekend for her to battle back and get at it. After playing 20 minutes of hockey last year, she shined over the weekend. We can't say enough good things about her."

Asked about how he felt with the first weekend out of the way, Parker said that he liked how his young roster handled the challenge.

"We had a lot of first years that got a lot of good ice time, made a lot of good plays. There were a lot of good signs of growth and maturity that we'll be able to work on throughout the season."

Next weekend, the Lakers take on Michigan State at Big Bear Arena in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Parker was thrilled with the chance to play in the Soo, despite the ongoing renovation to Taffy Abel Arena.

"We're super excited. It's always great to be back in the Soo playing games. Soon enough we'll be playing games back at the Taffy, but we'll be at Big Bear next weekend."

Follow the Lakers all season long on the new Lake Superior State Lakers app, now available on the App Store and Google Play.