ST. PAUL, Minn. – Led by Sami Hackley's four goals, the College of Saint Benedict (7-1, 4-0 MWLC) won a showdown for first place in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference with an 8-4 win over Northwestern (8-4, 3-1 MWLC) on Wednesday night (April 19).

With the victory, Saint Ben's recorded its seventh straight win and fourth in a row in the MWLC. CSB is 7-1 overall and at 4-0 lead the MWLC. Northwestern fell to 8-4 and 3-1 for second in the conference.

"We had a great defensive performance tonight as goalie Chloe Lewis had another outstanding game shutting down their offensive chances," said CSB Head Coach Patrick Crandall. "Northwestern is a very explosive team, and we were able to make them work hard in their settled offense and when they did get free Chloe came up big with the save. Offensively, we moved the ball well. It took some time to crack Northwestern's tough defense and they had great goaltending. When we were able to get free, the offense started to stack some goals," said Crandall.
 
After trailing 2-1 after the first quarter, CSB took control with a 7-to-2 margin over the final three quarters. The Bennies had a 2-0 advantage in the second quarter, 2-1 in the third stanza and a 3-1 margin in the fourth quarter.
 
Hackley had another outstanding game for CSB with four goals and an assist for five points. She had nine shots with seven on-goal while recording four ground balls and four draw controls. Hackley, who now has 21 goals and eight assists for a team-high 29 points, scored four goals in a game for the third time this year and the third time in the past five games. She has scored at least two goals in each of the seven games she has played.
 
Emma Schrepfer added two goals and two assists with six shots, including three on goal. It was the fifth time this year for multi-goals for Schrepfer who is second on CSB with 24 points, including 14 goals.
 
The Bennies also had goals from Ella Steinke and Presley Kraemer. Steinke now has 15 goals while Kraemer had her third of the season.
 
"Sami (Hackley) again dominated the draw with another outstanding offensive performance. Maria Klein, Addy Hackley, Kenzie Matthies, and Jenna Timm locked in on defense tonight. It was a great confidence booster for this team. Now, we need to keep improving and moving forward," said Crandall.
 
For Lewis, she allowed only four goals in the game, which she has done for the third time. Lewis, who has played every minute in goal this year for CSB, recorded 10 saves and now has 81 on the season with a .570 save percentage.  
 
After being out shot 10-to-3 in the first quarter, CSB took control with a 26-to-9 margin over the final three quarters for an overall 29-to-19 edge. CSB also had a 20-to-14 advantage in shots on goal. Overall, the Bennies had 34 turnovers to 38 for Northwestern with 32 grounds balls to 35 for Northwestern. CSB had an 11-to-5 margin in draw controls and were successful on 12-of-14 clears. 
 
Scoring Summary
Northwestern took a 1-0 lead at 11:54 on a goal by Cara Smith off an assist from Emma Ruegemer. CSB answered with a goal at the 5:40 on a goal by S. Hackley off an assist by Shauna Miller, UNW regained a 2-1 lead at 3:32 on a goal by Samantha Wiebold.

On a free position shot, S. Hackley tied the game at 2-2 on her second goal at 13:43 of the second quarter. At 6:12 of the second quarter, Emma Schrepfer's goal gave CSB a 3-2 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the night.

At 7:25 of the third quarter, S. Hackley's second goals off an assist from Schrepfer gave CSB a 4-2 lead. She added her third tally at 4:05 off an assist by Steinke as CSB had a 5-2 lead. Northwestern pulled within two on Ava Whitcomb's goal at 1:48 of the quarter.

Then, CSB scored three straight goals to grab firm control of the game and the conference lead. Schrepfer's second goals off S. Hackley's assist provided a 6-3 lead. Steinke tallied a goal at 11:54 for a 7-3 lead and Kraemer's unassisted goal with 9:19 pushed the lead to 8-3. Lauren Paar of Northwestern cut the lead to four goals at 2:14 but CSB ran out the clock and earned the hard-fought win.