ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- The 2023 season has been full of a lot of firsts for the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team. But none was bigger than the 13-3 win over Cornell College in the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference semifinals on Wednesday (May 2) at the CSB Athletic Field.
 
In the first-ever playoff game in lacrosse at Saint Ben's, the Bennie put together perhaps their best performance of the year. They dominated from the start, rolling out to a 3-0 lead after a quarter and taking a 9-1 lead to halftime. Then with a 2-0 margin in the third quarter, they had a virtually insurmountable 11-1 lead going into the fourth quarter.
 
With the victory, Saint Ben's advances to its first-ever MWLC title game and will host Lake Forest on Saturday with the time to be announced soon at the CSB Athletic Field. Tonight's victory was the eighth straight over MWLC opponents as the Bennies will now have the opportunity to play for a spot in the NCAA DIII national tournament which goes to the winner of the MWLC Tournament.
 
"It was great to get the win today against a well-coached Cornell team. We put some specific offensive plays in today to combat their backer zone and the team executed phenomenally in the first half," said CSB Head Coach Patrick Crandall. "It was good for the team to jump out to an early lead and have some success right away. Ella Steinke started us off on the right foot and controlled our offense. Cornell did affect our draw and we had to adjust our game to their successful draw work," he said.
 
For the first time, leading scorer Sami Hackley had five goals in a game, including a hat trick in the second quarter. Shauna Miller, Emma Schrepfer and Ella Steinke each had a pair of goals while Emma Osland and Grace Fitzgibbons added a goal. Fitzgibbons had two assists while Presley Kraemer, Steinke and Schrepfer had one.
 
In perhaps her best game of the year, goalie Chloe Lewis was a factor as she only allowed one goal for the first three periods before Cornell score twice in the third quarter. She had 14 saves, including several at point blank range. And allowing just three goals for the game was a season-best for Lewis and her defensive teammates.
 
"The key (for us) was playing as a team. It was a good team effort through and through. We came out ready to play with our fans at home. It was pretty fun," said Lewis, a first year from Brooklyn Park, Minn., who has started all 13 games and now has an 11-2 record. She tied her second highest save total with 14 as has 127 this year and lowered her goal against average to 7.85 this year.
 
The first goal in CSB playoff history was by Steinke at 12:50 of the first period. It was the first of two goals on the day and have her 25 on the season with 32 points.
 
"We came in ready to play," said Steinke. "We are excited for the win and moving on," she said.
 
With her five goals Hackley now has multi-goals in 10 of 11 games she has played. In fact, the first year from Plymouth, Minn., now has a hat trick or better in four of the past six games. She now leads CSB with 46 points on 36 goals and 10 assists. With her goal, Fitzgibbons has 31 goals and 44 points while Schrepfer now has 25 goals and 32 points. With her pair of goals Miller has 18 on the season while Osland has 21 goals.
 
"Sami Hackley continued to pace our offense. Our defense really stepped up to compete today as a unit with Chloe Lewis making big saves on open shots. I'm proud of the way we practiced coming into today's game. Our preparation really showed in their play today," said Crandall.
 
CSB had a 30-to-21 shots edge with a solid advantage of 30-to-20 in ground balls. While Cornell College had a 12-to-7 lead in draw controls, CSB had success on 30-of-32 clears.
 
Scoring Summary
At 12:50, Steinke scored CSB first-ever tournament goal unassisted for a 1-0 lead.  At 11:43, Schrepfer provided the Bennies a 2-0 goal on assist by Steinke.  The quick start continued as Schrepfer had her second goal for a 3-0 lead shortly thereafter.
 
After a turnover, S. Hackley's first of five goals provided CSB with a 4-0 lead at the 13:45 mark. She tallied again at 13:10 and secured her hat trick in second quarter with a goal at 10:54 for a 6-1 lead.  
 
After a Cornell foul, a free position goal by Osland pushed the lead to 7-1 at the 7:25 mark. At the 6:07 mark, Miller had her first playoff goal for an 8-1 advantage. With a free position shot from Fitzgibbons, CSB made the lead 9-1 at the 4:48 mark which they took to halftime.
 
Steinke had her second goal of the game as she opened the scoring in the third quarter with a tally at 11:41 for a 10-1 advantage.  Hackley's fourth goal of the game at 3:33 created an 11-1 lead. Cornell broke a nearly two quarter droughts as Anna Methe goal at 12:24 of the fourth quarter. Hailey Seiler put in a second goal of the quarter for the Rams at 10:18 to draw within 11-3.
 
But CSB answered that charge as Miller's second tally at 5:23 was followed by Hackley's fifth goal at 3:38 and the Bennies had a 13-3 lead and its semifinal victory.