ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – In the first home game of its inaugural season, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (5-1, 3-0 MWLC) shined while making history in a winning way.

With four goals from Sami Hackley and three from Emma Schrepfer and Shauna Miller, the Bennies recorded their fifth straight win on a history-making day with a 16-14 victory over preseason Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference favorite Lake Forest (4-7, 3-1 MWLC). With the victory, CSB is now 3-0 in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference and sit in first place.
 

It is quite an accomplishment through the early part of the schedule for the Bennies, which were picked seventh in the preseason MWLC poll but have opened with three wins in their first three conference games. And, today, with the signficance of CSB's first-ever home game, President Brian Bruess of College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University was on hand for a pre-game ceremonial draw control with representatives from both teams.

"Lake Forest is an exceptionally good team with a lot of quality players and is coached well. This was a great benchmark for us to shoot for and to see how we could play," said first-year head coach Patrick Crandall, whose team travels to UW-Stout on April 15 for a 1 p.m., contest. "It was great to see the players tough out a win. And to have it be our first-ever home game and a key conference game is really special," said Crandall.

Sophomore Emma Osland of Cottage Grove, Minn., was also proud of the team's performance.

"The team was super excited to come out for this game and to get a win is more special especially for it to be our first home game, it is really exciting," said Osland, who had two goals in the CSB win and acknowledged all of the support from CSB students, other CSB and Saint John's teams and others on hand.

After trailing 2-0 early, CSB took a 6-3 lead after the first quarter and led, 9-8 at halftime. With a 5-2 edge in the third quarter, CSB extended its lead to 14-10. Although Lake Forest had a 4-2 margin in the final quarter, the Bennies held on for the 16-14 victory. Miller, Hackley and Schrepfer all had hat tricks while Emma Osland scored twice as did Ella Steinke. Molly Davison and Jenna Timm also tallied goals.

"I am proud of the way this team fights and competes for the entire game. Chloe Lewis stood out again – making some key saves at the end on defense. Sami Hackley had another great game on the draw, assisting and scoring important goals," said Crandall. "In addition, Emma Osland worked really hard in our transition. And, getting Shauna Miller back on the field proved to be the difference maker in this contest by taking control of the game when we needed it. It was just a wonderful team win."

 

By the Numbers
With the 16-14 margin, CSB now has outscored opponents, 85-to-50 in the inaugural season. And they own a 201-to-150 shots advantage. In every game this season, S. Hackley had scored at least two goals and has hat tricks or better in three straight games (4 vs Wartburg, 3 vs. Hamline and 4 vs Lake Forest) and all in conference matchups.  She is now the leading scorer for CSB with 21 points including 15 goals and six assists. With her two goals today, Ella Steinke had 13 goals and 17 points while Emma Schrepfer also had 11 goals and 17 points after her performance.

Scoring Summary
Lake Forest opened quickly with goals from Abby Meyer (14:40) and Jenna Doctor (14:38) for a 2-0 lead. CSB recovered quickly and scored five straight goals as Molly Davison scored the first goal at the CSB field at 12:08. Then, Schrepfer had her first of three goals with a free position goal at 8:57 for a 2-2 tie. At 8:04, or less than a minute later, S. Hackley had her first of four goals with an unassisted score for a 3-2 lead. CSB never trailed again. At 3:41 Jenna Timm converted a goal on a free position shot for a 4-2 lead. Schrepfer had a second goal at 2:43 for a 5-2 lead. Lake Forest rebounded with a free position shot from Ali Graham to draw within 5-3.

Once again, CSB had the answer as Hackley scored with 46 seconds left in the first quarter off an assist from Schrepfer for a 6-3 lead. Then, Osland had her first of two goals at 14:04 of the second quarter as CSB led, 7-3. After a Lake Forest goal, Osland had her second goal with a free position shot at 10:09 as the Bennies pushed their lead to 8-4.

After Lake Forest had goals from Ali Graham (9:52) and Shannon Gibbons (7:55), Ella Steinke stepped up with a goal off an assist from Miller for a 9-6 lead. Then, Krissy Kuwahara of Lake Forest tallied two consecutive goals – both on free position shots – as CSB's lead was just 9-8.

Once again, Saint Ben's had the answer with a goal from Miller at 13:16 of the third period for a 10-8 margin. S. Hackley converted a free position shot at 12:31 for an 11-8 lead. At 5:32, S. Hackley converted yet another goal for a 12-9 lead. After a Lake Forest goal by Graham, Miller scored her second goal of the night for a 13-10 lead at the 3:17 mark.

At 2:23 of the third quarter, Schrepfer's third goal pushed the lead to 14-10. Another Miller goal at 11:32 of the fourth quarter extended the lead to 15-11. Then, Steinke added her second goal of the night at 7:58 for a 16-12 lead.

Lake Forest had goals from Krissy Kuwahara at 4:34 and Shannon Gibbons at 2:10 but the Saint Benedict defense held off their late charge to pick up the victory.