ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – With two conference games set in the next week, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (3-1, 1-0 MWLC) will look to keep the momentum moving forward after securing their first Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MWLC) win on April 5. The Bennies will face a road MWLC test at Hamline (1-5, 0-1 MWLC) on Monday, April 10 at 6 p.m., in St. Paul, Minn. Then, the Bennies will host its first-ever lacrosse game against Lake Forest College in St. Joseph on Wednesday, April 12.
Bennies play pair of MWLC opponents this week.
Hamline, which is 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the MWLC, is coached by first year head coach Adam Dobis. The Pipers dropped an 18-6 decision to Northwestern. Hamline has allowed 81 goals and scored 49 this season. The Pipers are led by Taryn Leonard with 14 goals and 15 points while Maitland Luksan has 11 goals and 13 total points.
CSB will have a historic event on April 12 when the Bennies host the program's first-ever home game with MWLC favorite Lake Forest College at 4 p.m., on Wednesday, April 12. Lake Forest is 3-6 overall and 2-0 in the MWLC. In their last game coached first year head coach Wei Chenh, defeated Monmouth 21-2 on Tuesday, April 4. The Foresters have 111 goals overall on the season, led by Jenna Doctor who has totaled 23 goals for 25 points and Ali Graham with 20 goals and 30 points.
CSB - By the Numbers
Through four games, CSB has scored 55 goals while allowing 29 but owns a 138-to-90 shots edge. CSB has a 62-36 margin in draw controls and committed more turnovers than opponents, 76-to-71, but has recorded 88 ground balls and 43 clears in 58 attempts for a .741 percentage.
Grace Fitzgibbons leads CSB with 14 goals and four assists for 18 points.
Ella Steinke had seven goals and four assists for 11 points while
Sami Hackley has eight goals and two assists for 10 points. Fitzgibbons and Steinke have a tied team-high shots of 24.
Season Review
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 3-1 record.
