ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (1-3), will face a nonconference road test against Hamline University (5-1) at 5 p.m., on Wednesday, March 20 at Klas Field.
Saint Benedict opens the season with a 1-3 record
Saint Benedict, which has been selected to win the 2024 Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) championship, opened the season with a 20-3 setback at NCAA DII Northern Michigan (5-1) on Feb. 24. In game two, CSB dropped a 15-7 decision to University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on March 9 and then a day later on March 10, defeated Milwaukee School of Engineering, 19-4. Despite seven goals from Sami Hackley last weekend, the Bennies dropped a 18-13 decision at UW Eau-Claire on March 13.
UW-River Falls match for Saturday rescheduled
CSB was originally set to face UW-River Falls (3-2) on Saturday, March 23 at the CSB Stadium Turf Field, 1 p.m. in St. Joseph, Minn. Due to weather conditions this contest has been moved to Monday, April 29 at 5 p.m., also at the CSB Stadium Turf Field.
Up Next
After the game vs. Hamline on March, 20, CSB will face Elmhurst University (1-3) on the road at Elmhurst, Ill. on Saturday, March 30 at 3 p.m.
About the Pipers
Hamline, which is directed by second-year head coach Adam Dobis, defeated North Carolina Wesleyan, 14-1, and most recently blanked William Peace, 18-2, in Raleigh, N.C.. HU has a 63-to-23 goals edge against opponents and lead in ground balls, 120-to-77, the Pipers lead, 61-to-34, in draw controls. Maitland Luksan leads the team with ten goals while Courtney Parker has nine goals and four assists.
First-Year Players making an impact
Lizzie Schrubbe leads the Bennies in points with 17 with nine goals and eight assists. Schrubbe has a career total of 23 shots and seven ground balls. Emma Nelson has four goals and two assists. She has six shots on goal and collected seven total ground balls. Emma Halweg has four goals, one assist while making eight shot and recording three grounds balls. This season, she recorded a goal against UW- La Crosse and Milwaukee School of Engineering. Last weekend, Halweg had her first multi-goal performance with two at UW-Eau Claire. Breya Sawyer has two goals and one assist while taking two shots. In addition, Tess Cavanaugh has recorded two goals on two shots and fielded one ground ball.
Sami Hackley sets school record with seven goals
Sophomore Sami Hackley, who was All-MLC a year ago, recently earned her first-ever St. Cloud Orthopedic/CSB Athlete of the Week honor after setting a school record with seven goals in an 18-13 setback to Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has 11 goals and two assists on the season and, for her career, now has 48 goals, 71 shots and 43 ground balls. Hackley had recorded 13 multi-goal games, including two straight, while registering six games of four goals or more in her career.
Lewis, Osland, Steinke and Fitzgibbons making impact
In goal, sophomore Chloe Lewis has made 27 saves recording a .321 save percentage through 240 minutes in the crease this season. For her career, Lewis has turned aside 169 shots for a .491 save percentage.
Junior Emma Osland has four goals and two assists while taking eight shots and picking up eight ground balls. For her career, she has 25 goals and five assists, including 49 shots and 29 ground balls. She has one multi-goal game in 2024 and eight for her career with a high of five vs UW-Stout on April 15, 2023.
Sophomore Grace Fitzgibbons has three goals in four games. In her career, Fitzgibbons totals 34 goals and 13 assists with a total of 61 shots and 36 total ground balls. In her career, Fitzgibbons has eight multi-goal games, including one this year. Four times she has registered four of more goals in a game, including a career-best six vs. Augsburg on April 29, 2023. It is a total that ranks second best all-time at CSB.
A year ago, she had sophomore Ella Steinke has six points for a total of three goals and three assists. For her career, Steinke has 40 points, 76 shots and 41 ground balls. She also has 10 multi-goal games including of high four twice against Hamline on April 10, 2023 and Clarke (Iowa) on April 4, 2023.
Emma Schrepfer has fielded one ground ball this season. For her career, Schrepfer has 24 goals and 14 assists totaling 38 points. She has 46 shots and 24 ground balls. In addition, Schrepfer has nine multi-goal games in her career with three vs Beloit (Ill.) on March 27, 2023.
Head Coach Patrick Crandall - 2nd Season
Directed by head coach Patrick Crandall, the Bennies recorded a 7-0 record in the MWLC a year ago and finished 11-3 overall in his first year with the program. In that first season, Crandall was named the Midwest Lacrosse Conference Coach of the Year. With a 1-3 record in 2023-24, Crandall's all-time mark at CSB sits at 12-6. In his first season, the inaugural season of lacrosse at Saint Benedict, Crandall was named the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference "Coach of the Year." With his direction, the Bennies finished a perfect 7-0 in conference play with an 11-3 overall record. CSB won the regular season title and then recorded a 13-3 win in the MWLC tournament semifinals. The Bennies fell to Lake Forest in the title game. Six team members were named to the All-MWLC team while Sami Hackley was the conference "Rookie of the Year." Eight student-athletes were named to the Academic All-MWLC squad. Crandall was hired in late December, 2021 to start the Bennie program, which began in Spring 2023. He comes to CSB with an impressive coaching resume at the high school and club levels in the state of Minnesota. In 2015, Crandall was selected as the Minnesota Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He has coached a Ms. Lacrosse Minnesota honoree as well as numerous student-athletes that have gone on to compete at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels.
