ELMHURST, Ill. – With two wins in three games, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (2-3) will face a nonconference road test against Elmhurst University (2-4) at 3 p.m., on Saturday, March 30 at Langhorst Field.

Saint Benedict opens the season with a 2-3 record
Saint Benedict, which has been selected to win the 2024 Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) championship, is coming off a 16-6 victory over Hamline in a nonconference game in which sophomore Grace Fitzgibbons scored a career-high five goals while first year Lizzie Schrubbe added six points (2 goals/ 4 assists). CSB's season opened 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, the Bennies dropped a 18-13 decision at UW Eau-Claire on March 13. 

Up Next
After the game vs. Elmhurst on March 30, CSB will face the University of Northwestern (Minn.) (4-4) in the home opener season on Saturday, April 6 at the CSB Turf Athletic Complex in St. Joseph, Minn. The game with Northwestern is also CSB's home opener in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference. CSB was originally set to face UW-River Falls (4-2) 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.

About the Bluejays
Elmhurst, which is directed by first-year head coach Sloane Baumgartner, moved to 2-4 after an 8-6 win over Wisconsin-Stevens Points on March 27. Earlier, the Bluejays fell to Concordia University (Wis.), 12-2, on Saturday, March 23. Elmhurst has been outscored, 74-to-31, and opponents owns both a 107-to-50 margin in ground goals and a 69-to-52 advantage in draw controls. Gracie Eastman leads the team with 14 goals while Andrea Murtland has seven goals.

First-Year Players at Saint Ben's making an impact
Lizzie Schrubbe leads CSB in points with 23 with 11 goals and 12 assists. She collected six points against Hamline on March 20. Schrubbe, who had a career-best nine points (four goals, five assists) in a 19-4 win over the Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 10, has a career total of 27 shots and eight ground balls. Emma Nelson has seven goals and two assists. Twice this season (Hamline, MSOE), Nelson has recorded hat tricks (three goals). She has nine shots on goal and collected 11 total ground balls. Emma Halweg has four goals, two assists while taking eight shots and recording three ground balls. This season, she recorded a goal against UW- La Crosse and Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). On March 13 against UW Eau-Claire, Halweg had her first multi-goal performance netting two goals. Breya Sawyer has two goals and one assist while taking two shots. In addition, Tess Cavanaugh has recorded two goals on three 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 13 goals and five assists on the season, and for her career, now has 50 goals, 75 shots and 48 ground balls. Hackley had recorded 14 multi-goal games, including three straight, while registering six games of four goals or more in her career.

Lewis, Osland, Steinke and Fitzgibbons providing big contributions
In goal, sophomore  Chloe Lewis has made 36 saves recording a .364 save percentage through 300 minutes in the crease this season. For her career, Lewis has turned aside 178 shots for a .496 save percentage.

Junior Emma Osland has six goals and three assists while taking 13 shots and picking up 11 ground balls. For her career, she has 27 goals and six assists, including 54 shots and 32 ground balls. She has two multi-goal games in 2024 and nine for her career with a high of five vs UW-Stout on April 15, 2023.

Sophomore Grace Fitzgibbons has eight goals in five games including a season-best five goals in the most recent matchup at Hamline. In her career, Fitzgibbons has totaled 39 goals and 13 assists with a total of 66 shots and 38 total ground balls. In her career, Fitzgibbons has nine multi-goal games, including two this year. Five times she has registered four or 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, sophomore Ella Steinke had six points for a total of three goals and three assists. This season she has totaled five goals and five assists. For her career, Steinke has 44 points, 79 shots and 43 ground balls. She also has 11 multi-goal games including a career-high four twice against Hamline on April 10, 2023 and Clarke (Iowa) on April 4, 2023.

Emma Schrepfer has fielded three ground balls this season. For her career, Schrepfer has 24 goals and 14 assists totaling 38 points. She has 46 shots and 26 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 2-3 record in 2023-24, Crandall's all-time mark at CSB sits at 13-6. 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.