ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict (11-3) could not overcome a fast early start by Lake Forest (9-9) as the Foresters captured the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday (May 6) with a 16-6 decision at the CSB Athletic Field.

With the victory, Lake Forest, which finished second (6-1) in the regular season, will earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA DIII national tournament which will be announced on Monday.

Despite the setback, the 2023 season by Saint Benedict was one for the history books. In its inaugural season, the Bennies, which was picked seventh in the preseason poll, finished 11-3 with a perfect 7-0 league record, becoming the second straight first-year program (Lake Forest, 2022) to win the regular season title.

CSB had the MWLC Coach of the Year Patrick Crandall, as well as MWLC's Rookie of the Year in Sami Hackley and six all-conference selections. In a season of firsts CSB won their first-ever tournament playoff game, 13-3, over Cornell College. They also won program's first-ever regular season home game, against Lake Forest, 16-14.

"It was a special season for this team," said Crandall. "I am really proud of our players for their work ethic and resilience. They always believed in their abilities to be successful. It is a team that has grown significantly. This loss hurts but we had a very successful season," he said.

In the tournament championship, Lake Forest jumped out to a 2-1 lead after a quarter and then had a 6-1 advantage in the second quarter to take a commanding 8-2 lead to halftime. With a 3-1 margin in the third quarter and 5-3 in the fourth quarter, they earned the 16-6 win and a split in the season series.

Lake Forest was led by a trio of All-MWLC performers as Jenna Doctor had four goals while Ali Graham and Ryleigh Nelson each scored three goals.

As for CSB, the Bennies had two goals from Emma Schrepfer and All-MWLC performer Ella Steinke. All-MWLC player Sami Hackley and Shauna Miller both had goals in the first-ever MWLC championship game.

Overall, Lake Forest had a 35-to-24 shots edge, including 18-to-11 in the opening half, they had a 29-to-15 margin on ground balls and won 13-of-24 draw controls. The Bennies had 13 clears in 17 tries while Lake Forest was 14-of-18.

CSB goalie Chloe Lewis, who played every minute in goal this season had 15 saves.

By the Numbers –
The Bennies finished the season with a 179-to-118 advantage in goals and a 67-ot-29 edge on assists. In shots, Saint Ben's had 483 to 342 for opponents. CSB, which had a 34.5 shots per game average, had a 26-to-19 free position goal edge and had 112 unassisted goals.

S. Hackley finished as the team leader in points with 47 with a team-high 37 goals and added 10 assists. In 13 games, Hackley had 11 multi-goal games and totaled six goals in the tournament. She also had a team-best 66 draw controls and totaled 32 ground balls. Grace Fitzgibbons finished with 44 points on 31 goals.

Emma Schrepfer, who had two goals today in her first tournament appearance, totaled 38 points with 24 goals and a team-high 14 assists. Ella Steinke, who also had two goals in the tourney title game, finished with 34 points and 27 goals. She had two goals in each of the two CSB tournament games and had 10 multi-goal games. Emma Osland had 21 goals and Shauna Miller added 19.

In goal, Lewis, a first-team All-MWLC performer, allowed 8.43 goals per game with 142 saves and a 53.6 save percentage.