ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – With seven straight victories, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (7-1, 4-0
MWLC), will conclude the regular season with three home games in its final four competitions of the regular season. Next up, CSB is set to play Cornell College (8-6, 2-2 MWLC) in a home Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference game at 1 p.m., Saturday, April 22.
CSB and Cornell will meet for the first time ever as the Bennies lead the MWLC with a 4-0 record. Lake Forest is second at 4-1 followed by Northwestern, 3-1; Augsburg, 2-1; and Cornell, 2-2.
On Wednesday, April 19, CSB defeated Northwestern, 8-4 for a fourth straight MWLC victory. After playing Cornell, CSB faces UW-LaCrosse on Monday April 24 at 5 p.m., with a road match up in the MWLC at Monmouth on April 26.
Cornell Notes
Cornell, which was picked fourth in the MWLC preseason poll, opened up their season with an 8-6 start, including 2-2 in the Midwest Conference. The Rams which sit fifth in the MWLC, are led by eighth-year head coach Meredith Meier. Cornell has outscored opponents, 126-to-124. With 398 shots, the Rams average 22.2 per game. Cece Zanoni leads the team with 34 goals and 39 points. Anna Methe has added 24 goals and 25 points. Goalie Hannah Miech has 92 saves.
CSB - By the Numbers
This season, CSB has a 109-to-61 advantage in goals over opponents and a margin of 282-to-197 in shots. Sami Hackley leads the team with 21 goals and eight assists for 29 points. Hackley has scored four goals in a game three times this year and with four against Northwestern has accomplished the mark for 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 is second in the team with 24 points with 14 goals and a team-high 10 assists. She has tallied five games with multi-goals,.
Grace Fitzgibbons has added 19 goals and 23 points. Five times, Fitzgibbons has tallied two or more goals with a high of five in the win over Beloit.
Ella Steinke has 16 goals and six assists for 22 points. She also has five games with multi-goals. In addition,
Emma Osland has 14 goals and scored five in a win over UW-Stout. Goalie
Chloe Lewis leads the defense with 81 saves and allowed just 7.63 goals per game.
Season Review
Hackley scores four goals to lead CSB past Northwestern, 8-4
Led by Sami
Hackley's four goals, CSB 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). 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.
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. For Lewis, she allowed only four goals in the game, which she has done for the third time. 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.
Osland's five goals leads CSB Lacrosse to 16-7 win at UW-Stout
With a career-best five goals from sophomore Emma Osland, CSB recorded its sixth consecutive win with a 16-7 nonconference win over Wisconsin-Stout (0-10) on April 15. Osland became the second Bennies player (
Grace Fitzgibbons) to register five goals in a game in the program's first season. As a result,
Osland has 14 goals on the season and 16 points. She has scored at least two goals in five of
CSB's seven games and now is fifth on the team in scoring with 16 points. The Bennies led 5-2 after a quarter and 9-3 at halftime. With a 7-4 advantage in the second half, the Bennies recorded the win.
Bennies record win in first-ever home game, 16-14 over Lake Forest
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). 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.
CSB lacrosse wins first-ever MWLC game with dominating 17-4 win over Wartburg
With hat tricks or better from Grace Fitzgibbons, Sami Hackley and Molly Davison, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (3-1, 1-0 MWLC) won its first-ever Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (
MWLC) game with a 17-4 decision over Wartburg (2-8, 1-2
MWLC) on Wednesday (April 5).
Fitzgibbons and
Hackley both had four goals while Davison added three for the Bennies which had five players with two or more goals. With a 13-goal margin, CSB registered a third straight win by double-digit total. In its inaugural season, CSB has already had a series of firsts with another tonight in winning its first-ever conference game in the
MWLC. And now they have won three straight games, also a program-first. After opening with a 3-1 lead in the opening quarter, CSB took control in the second stanza with six unanswered goals for an 9-1 lead and finished an 8-to-1 quarter with an 11-2 advantage. Leading that rush was S.
Hackley who had a trio of goals. In the second half, CSB had a 6-2 margin, including a 4-0 margin in the final quarter. It was the second straight game when CSB held an opponent scoreless in the final stanza of play.
Fitzgibbons and Steinke each tally four goals to goals to lead CSB Lacrosse to 19-5 win at Clarke U
With four-goal performances from both Grace Fitzgibbons and Ella Steinke, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (2-1) earned a nonconference win over Clark (2-4) on Tuesday night at a raining Burrows Field. The victory was the second straight for the Bennies, which scored double-digit goals for the second straight game. The game was originally schedule at 7 p.m., but moved up to 4 p.m., due to weather conditions, After Clarke opened a 2-0 goal lead, the Bennies scored 10 straight goals to end the first period. Schrepfer had the first goal at 11:39 before
Hackley tied the game at 2-2 at 11:23 of the first quarter. Then
Fitzgibbons (9:47), Miller (8:38), had goals while
Annika Anderson (3:35, 2:42) added two in a row for a 6-2 lead. Fitzgibbons struck again at the 1:17 mark which was the one of four in the final 67 seconds of the quarter. When Steinke (1:00) and
Timm (:42) and
Osland (:20) added goals, CSB led, 10-2.
Fitzgibbons scores five times to lead Bennies to 1st win - 14-4 over Beloit
CSB 14 Beloit 4 -- The College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (1-1), led by five goals from Grace Fitzgibbons, made history by recording its first-ever win in impressive fashion and on the road on March 26. In a dominating 14-4 win over Beloit (2-3), the Bennies, which had hat tricks or better from Fitzgibbons,
Emma Schrepfer, and Shauna Miller, opened an 8-2 lead at halftime and then had a 6-2 edge in the second half. CSB Head Coach Patrick Crandall earned his first career win as the Bennies had control from the start. Fitzgibbons, a first year from Minneapolis, Minn., had a memorable effort. She scored four goals in the first half as the Bennies led, 8-2. Then she added another in the fourth quarter and, with an assist, totaled six points. She scored her five goals in just seven shots. CSB also had three goals from both
Schrepfer, who added two assists, and Miller while
Emma Osland tallied two goals. The Bennies scored nearly three times as many goals as they did in the 16-5 loss at UW-River Falls in the opener. Osland, Miller,
Schrepfer, and
Annika Anderson all tallied career first goals. Overall, CSB had a 41-to-14 margin on shots, totaled eight assists, recorded six saves and had seven ground balls. Meanwhile, Beloit had 23 saves and seven ground balls.
Steinke and Hackley score two goals in first game
The Bennies opened the program's inaugural season with a 16-5 setback at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on March 20. In that opening match, Ella Steinke and Sami Hackley each scored a pair of goals. Steinke scored the program's first goal unassisted at the 9:31 mark of the second quarter. After trailing 3-0 after one quarter, CSB had a pair of second period goals. Down 10-2 in the third quarter, CSB had three goals to match UW-River Falls. In the final quarter, UW-River Falls outscored the Bennies, 3-0. Aside from Hackley and Steinke, CSB had a goal by
Grace Fitzgibbons. Overall, CSB was outshot, 44-26 but had 19 shots on goals. CSB had a 13-12 edge in draw controls.
MWLC Poll – Lake Forest selected to win.
Lake Forest College has been selected to win the 2023 Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MWLC) championship according to the preseason poll, voted on by the league's head coaches. The Foresters received seven first-place votes and 49 total points in the preseason poll. Lake Forest won the regular season title last season. Hamline was picked to finish second with 39 points and earned one first-place vote. The Pipers have won the past five conference tournament championships, which is a league record. Northwestern was third in the poll with 36 points, Cornell was fourth with 34 points, Wartburg was fifth with 24 points, Augsburg was sixth with 23 points, Saint Benedict was seventh with 13 points, and Monmouth rounded out the poll with 10 points.
CSB led by Patrick Crandall
In December 2021, CSB announced the hiring of Patrick Crandall, one of the state's top prep girl's coaches, was hired to lead the first-year program. He was the head coach at Lakeville South High School from 2011 through the 2022 season. During that time, his teams twice finished as state runners-up and twice finished as state consolation champions before winning a state title in his final season last spring. So far in 2023, he has directed the CSB program to a 7-1 record and four straight MWLC wins, including a victory over league favorite Lake Forest, 16-14.
