ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Sami Hackley and Emma Schrepfer were all smiles after the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (10-2, 7-0, MWLC) wrapped up a 19-10 win over Augsburg (4-11, 2-4 MWLC) and with it the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MWLC) title outright with a seventh straight win on Saturday (April 29) at the CSB Athletic Field.

As Hackley and Schrepfer accepted the MWLC regular season championship plaque from MWLC Commissioner and CSB Director of Athletics Kelly Anderson Diercks, they turned to their teammates with the plaque raised and began a post-game celebration on their home field.

"I am so happy and pleased with everyone on this team," said Schrepfer, a sophomore from Andover, Minn., who had two goals in the victory over Augsburg. "We have grown a lot as a team. We didn't know what to expect when the season began To come in and prove to everyone that we can win, that is special," she said.
 

This is what a bunch of first season in program history conference champions look like! Congrats CSB LAX! #BennieNation pic.twitter.com/kRaJ59sHZI

— CSB Athletics (@CSB_Athletics) April 29, 2023

For Hackley, a first-year from Plymouth, Minn., it was a year of hard work and growth as Saint Ben's, picked to finish seventh in the preseason poll, rolled through the league with a 7-0 record and won 10-of-12 games in its inaugural season. With the victory, CSB is now the No. 1 seed in the MWLC Postseason Tournament, which begins Wednesday, May 3. Saint Ben's will host fourth-seeded Cornell College at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"I am just so happy," said Hackley, who finished the regular season with 31 goals, including three today, and 41 total points for best on the team. "I am so proud of everyone. We have had great support and we just wanted to take one game at a time and find a way to win," said Hackley, who leads CSB in draw controls with 59.

 

And, win they did in 2023. CSB has won 3-of-4 home games and have a 7-1 road record. They finished the regular season unbeaten in conference play in its inaugural season. They also became the MWLC's second straight champion (Lake Forest, 2022) to win the league's outright title in the first season of play.

Emma Osland, a sophomore from Cottage Grove, Minn., who had a hat trick (three goals) today, was also pleased with the way the season has gone. "It is really exciting. We were underdogs at the start of the season and really found a way to bring it all together. It is fantastic to come out on top. This season has been one where we have mixed really well as a team,. Those road trips helped us bond and we have shared our personalities. It has been a really special season," said Osland.

"It was a real cool thing to make history like this," said Schrepfer.  

On a day when the Bennies recorded a season-high in goals scored with 19, Grace Fitzgibbons had a season-high in goals scored in a game with six. She scored three straight over a 1:06 late in the second period when CSB broke from a 2-2 tie and had a 9-2 quarter for an 11-4 halftime lead.

Then, CSB had four goals in each of the third and fourth quarters to hold off Augsburg, which was led by the league's top scorer in Jade Willson with four goals on five shots.

First-year CSB Head Coach Patrick Crandall was exceptionally proud of his team.

"It was great to end the regular season with a win. The team has battled all season long making great improvements from our first game to where we are at now. A lot of firsts happened today and it was great being a part of it all," said Crandall.

"Now the team needs to focus on the upcoming MWLC tournament game. It is always tough to beat a team twice and Cornell plays a tough defensive game. We are going to have clean up our transitions and take care of the ball if we want to advance through to the finals. The team has taken on all the challenges of a first year season and now they are looking forward to taking on the post season play," said Crandall.
 
Aside from Fitzgibbons, who also had two assists and a team-season best of eight points, Emma Osland, Sami Hackley and Ella Steinke also had hat tricks (three goals). In addition, Presley Kraemer had a season-best two goals while Annika Anderson had an assist.

After the first quarter (2-2 tie), CSB dominated the game and the statistics.The Bennies had a 46-to-20 edge in shots, including 30-to-7 in the first half. CSB also had an 18-to-9 margin in ground balls and a 21-to-11 margin in draw controls. The Bennies, which was 3-of-6 on free position goals, had success on 20-of-21 clears. CSB goalie Chloe Lewis had eight saves to lead the defense.

"Today our offense stalled a bit in the beginning but goals by Grace and Emma  jump-started the offense. Again, the strong draw play by Sami Hackley and Ella Steinke gave us an edge with possession and we were able to capitalize on opportunities," said Crandall.

 

Scoring Summary
Kraemer opened the scoring at 9:28 on an unassisted goal which was followed by Fitzgibbons' first goal at 5:50, also an unassisted tally. Wilson scored twice for Augsburg to tie the match with the second just :38 left in the first quarter. Then, Osland gave CSB a 3-2 lead at 14:35 and Saint Ben's never trailed again. In fact, CSB scored six straight goals for a commanding 8-2 lead. After Osland's score, Schrepfer scored a free position shot which was followed by Kraemer's career-best second goal at 9:37. Steinke put in unassisted goals at 9:05 and 5:15 for a 7-2 advantage and Osland's second goal at 3:58 provided an 8-2 lead.

Augsburg put up a short rally as Wilson (3:22) and Alex Hoffman (2:14) cut the deficit to 8-4. Fitzgibbons quelled the Auggies' momentum quickly. She stepped up with three straight goals in a 1:06 and with it control of the match. She tallied a free position goal at 1:29, followed by an unassisted goal at :53 and another free position score with 23 seconds left as CSB took an 11-4 lead.

In the third period, CSB scored four straight goals for a commanding 15-4 lead. Osland had her third goal at 14:45 followed by Schrepfer's second goal, also unassisted at 10:26. S. Hackley took an assist from Fitzgibbons at 4:17 for the 15-4 lead. The Auggies responded with goals from Hoffman (1:51) and Isabella Kohour (:20) to draw within, 15-6 after three quarters.

Steinke answered quickly in the fourth quarter with a goal off an assist from Fitzgibbons for a 16-6 lead. After Wilson (12:30) and Mackenzie Galazen (12:12) tallied goals to cut the lead to 16-8, the Bennies responded with two goals of their own. First, S. Hackley had an unassisted goal at 11:17 and then Fitzgibbons tallied her third free position goal of the day at 10:36 for an 18-8 advantage.
 

Hoffman cut the lead to 18-9 on an unassisted goal before Hackley had her hat trick with an assist from Annika Anderson for a 19-9 lead. Augsburg closed the scoring on Kohout's free position goal at 3:26 but by that time, the clock was CSB's friend and the game and the MWLC outright title was in their hands.

By the numbers
CSB finished the regular season with a 101-to-49 advantage in goals over MWLC opponents. Overall, CSB had a 160-to-99 goal edge with a dominating 429-to-286 shots edge. In addition, the Bennies had a 271-to-216 margin in ground balls and had an 82 percentage on clears (150-of-183).

Individually in 11 games, Hackley, who had six hat tricks or better this year and 10 multi-goal performances, finished with 31 goals and 10 assists for 41 points which was tied for the team lead. With a season-school best six goals today, Fitzgibbons finished with 30 goals, 11 assists and 41 points. She had an 83.6 percent shot on goal percentage and had six hat tricks or better and is the only player on CSB with five goals or more twice. Schrepfer finished with 32 points with 20 goals and 12 assists. While Steinke had 23 goals and 29 points. Osland also reached 20 goals this season with her hat trick.