ELMHURST, Ill.-- Led by five players recording hat-tricks and a season-high of 20 goals the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (3-3) cruised to a 20-5 road nonconference victory over Elmhurst (2-5) in a  matchup at Langhorst Field on Saturday (March. 30).
 
Next week, Saint Benedict will return to St. Joseph to host the University of Northwestern (Minn.) on Saturday April 6 at the CSB Stadium Turf Field.
 
CSB second-year head coach Patrick Crandall was pleased with the play of his team today and looks forward to playing in-front of the home crowd in Saint Joseph.
 
"We are looking for good right now heading into the last month of the season. It was good to get back to .500 and we are really excited for our first home game," said Crandall.
 
Crandall was happy with the play of the midfielders today.
 
"Our midfielders really had a great day today dominating in all phases of the game. Emma Nelson, Emma Osland, Grace Fitzgibbons played extremely well," said Crandall.
 
CSB, who have won three of the last four games, improved to 3-3 on the season while Elmhurst dropped to 2-5. The Bennies opened out to a 7-1 lead after one quarter and, with a 6-2 margin in the second quarter, moved up 13-3 at the halftime break. CSB added onto the lead in the second half by tallying four goals in the third and two more in the fourth quarter. The Blue Jays recorded one goal in the first and two goals in the second and third quarters.
 
In total, six Saint Benedict players recorded multi-goal games. The group included hat tricks from junior Emma Osland; and sophomores Grace Fitzgibbons, Ella Steinke and Sami Hackley as well as first-year Lizzie Schrubbe who added four assists for a total of seven points. The seven points by Schrubbe ranks second all-time in school history and just short of her career/program best nine points at Milwaukee School of Engineering on March 10. CSB also had a multiple goal performance from first-year Emma Nelson and goals by Emma Halweg and Breya Sawyer.
 
The offensive performance was matched by superior goaltending, noted Crandall.
 
"The team played well, getting the scoring going early helped get us moving in the right direction. Chloe Lewis had another great game in net and the defense played well around her limiting quality shots," said Crandall. "The attack was quarterbacked by Lizzie Schrubbe having another seven-point game with four assists and three goals. Captains Ella Steinke and Sami Hackley pushed our offense. The offense played a well-rounded game and got everyone involved," said Crandall.
 
A sophomore from Plymouth, Minn., Steinke had her third multi-goal game of the season and the 13th of her career as she tied her career-high of four goals (Hamline on April 10, 2023, and against Clarke College, on April 4, 2023).
 
Hackley, a sophomore from Wayzata, Minn., recorded her fourth hat trick of the season as she has totaled 16 goals and five assists in six games this season for the Bennies. This was her 15th multi-goal game of her career. Fitzgibbons, a graduate from Academy of Holy Angels, tallied her third multi-goal game of the season and the second hat trick of the year. Fitzgibbons, now has 10 multi-point games in her college career, including a career-high of six against Augsburg University on April 29, 2023.
 
In net, sophomore Chloe Lewis made nine saves to record the third win of the season and the 14th of her career. The two-sport athlete, who also is a leader on the College of Saint Benedict hockey team, has a save percentage of .398 and boasts 11.33 goals against average.
 
Game Summary-
Off an assist from Schrubbe, Fitzgibbons opened up the scoring at (14:20) for CSB. The Bennies had goals from Fitzgibbons (13:32), Hackley (8:54), Osland (7:16) and first-year Emma Nelson (2:49). Elmhurst received a goal from Gracie Eastman on the power-play to end the first quarter 7-1.
 
Elmhurst opened up the scoring in the second quarter courtesy of Andrea Murtland once again on the power play (14:31) and Gracie Eastman (13:34) for her second goal to make the score 7-3. CSB then exploded offensively with six consecutive goals from Lizzie Schrubbe (11:39, 7:03), Hackley (10:07), Nelson (7:58), Fitzgibbons (4:26) and Steinke (0:26) to push the lead to 13-3 at the half.
 
In the third quarter, the Blue Jays found the back of the net twice with goals from Kendall Schleppe and Eastman. CSB answered with goals from Steinke (11:07, 3:05)), Breya Sawyer (10:00), and Schrubbe (8:03), for a commanding 14-5 lead. In the final quarter, Steinke (12:37), first-year Emma Halweg (5:50), and Osland (2:04) gave CSB the 20-5 lead and the second straight win.