MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- After three consecutive wins, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (4-3, 1-0 MLC) will face a road test at Augsburg University (2-9, 0-1 MLC) at 7 p.m., on Friday, April 12 at Edor Nelson Field.
 
Saint Benedict opens the season with a 4-3 record
Saint Benedict, which has been selected to win the 2024 Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) championship, is coming off a 18-7 victory over Northwestern (St. Paul). In the MLC and home opener, the Bennies received six goals from Sami Hackley and two from five players. The victory gave CSB a 1-0 mark in MLC play and a 4-3 overall record.

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. In a 16-6 victory over Hamline University, Saint Benedict received a career-high five goals from sophomore Grace Fitzgibbons scored a career-high five goals while first year Lizzie Schrubbe added six points (2 goals/ 4 assists). On March 30, CSB defeated Elmhurst University, 20-5, on the road.
 
Up Next
After the game against Augsburg, Saint Benedict will travel to St. Paul, Minn., for the second matchup of the season against Northwestern in a nonconference game at 7 p.m., April 17 Reynolds Field.
 
Program Records
Hackley has set the school record for goals in a game with seven goals against UW-Eau Claire on March 13, 2024 where she also recorded nine shots on goal.  First-year Lizzie Schrubbe has broken two school statistical categories this season. Schrubbe totaled six assists in the Bennies most recent contest against University of Northwestern (St. Paul) and tallied nine points earlier this season at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) on March 10, 2024.
 
Lewis named MLC Defensive Player of the Week
 Chloe Lewis of the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team, who helped the Bennies to a third straight win with a stellar performance in goal, was named the Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC) Defensive Player of the Week, according to an announcement Tuesday, April 10 by the MLC as selected by the league's head coaches.

Lewis, a sophomore goalie from Brooklyn Park, Minn., played all 60 minutes in net in CSB's 18-7 win on Saturday's (April 6)  over Northwestern-St. Paul in the home and MLC opener at the CSB Athletic Complex. A political science and pre-law major at CSB, Lewis made 12 saves and had a 63.2 save percentage in the contest. In 2024, she leads all MLC players in save percentage (.432), is third in goals allowed (75), third in goals against average (10.71) and fifth in saves (57). Named All-MLC a year ago, Lewis is the second player at CSB to earn MLC Weekly honors after sophomore Sami Hackley was honored on April 10, 2023. In her second season with Saint Benedict, she has allowed 9.19 goals per game (21 games), recorded 199 career saves, registered .508 career save percentage and accumulated a 14-5 career record, including 4-2-0 this year.
 
About the Auggies
Augsburg, which is directed by first-year interim  head coach Mikayla Knudson, fell to Milwaukee School of Engineering after an 11-5 decision on April 7. Earlier, the Auggies fell to Lake Forest College (Ill.), 21-3, on Saturday, April 6. Augsburg has been outscored, 81-to-180, and opponents own both a 298-to-290 margin in ground balls and a 143-to-150 advantage in draw controls. Jade Wilson leads the team with 35 goals while Alexa Hoffmanhas 24 goals.
 
First-Year Players at Saint Ben's making an impact
Lizzie Schrubbe leads CSB in points with 37 with 15 goals and 22 assists. She collected six points against Hamline on March 20. And seven points at Elmhurst on March 30. 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 39 shots and 13 ground balls.

Emma Nelson has 11 goals and five assists. Twice this season (Hamline, MSOE), Nelson has recorded hat tricks (three goals). She has 16 shots on goal and collected 17 total ground balls.

Emma Halweg has seven goals, four assists while taking 13 shots and recording four 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 has two multi-goal performances against UW-Eau Claire on March 13 and Northwestern (St. Paul) on April 6 after she  netted two goals. 

Breya Sawyer has three goals and two assists while taking three shots. In addition, Tess Cavanaugh has recorded three goals and one assist on four shots and fielded five ground balls.
 
Hackley has 59 career goals - 16 multi-goal games
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 22 goals and five assists on the season, and for her career, now has 59 goals, 85 shots and 54 ground balls. Hackley had recorded 16 multi-goal games, including five straight, while registering eight games of four goals or more in her career.
 
Osland, Steinke and Fitzgibbons providing big contributions
Junior Emma Osland has 11 goals and three assists while taking 23 shots and picking up 19 ground balls. For her career, she has 32 goals and six assists, including 64 shots and 40 ground balls. She has four multi-goal games in 2024 and 13 for her career with a high of five vs UW-Stout on April 15, 2023.
 
Sophomore Grace Fitzgibbons has 13 goals in seven games including a season-best five goals against Hamline University on March. 20. In her career, Fitzgibbons has totaled 44 goals and 16 assists with a total of 76 shots and 42 total ground balls. In her career, Fitzgibbons has eleven multi-goal games, including four 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 11 goals and six assists. For her career, Steinke has 51 points, 86 shots and 50 ground balls. She also has 13 multi-goal games including a career-high four three times against Hamline on April 10, 2023,  Clarke (Iowa) on April 4, 2023 and Elmhurst University on April 6, 2024.
 
Emma Schrepfer has fielded four ground balls this season. For her career, Schrepfer has 24 goals and 14 assists totaling 38 points. She has 46 shots and 27 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 4-3 record in 2023-24, Crandall's all-time mark at CSB sits at 15-6. 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.