MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – With tough, gritty defense and timely offense, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (6-3, 3-0 MLC) ran its winning streak to five games with a come-from-behind 9-6 win over Cornell College (12-3, 2-2, MLC) in road Midwest Lacrosse Conference play on Saturday afternoon (April 20).
With the victory, CSB is now 3-0 in the MLC and just a half game behind Lake Forest (12-2, 4-0) in the conference. The two conference leaders will meet on April 27 at 1 p.m., in Lake Forest, Ill. First, CSB hosts Hamline University in MLC play at 5 p.m., on Wednesday, April 24 at the CSB Athletic Turf Field.
In its time in the MLC, CSB has now gone 10-0 in regular season conference play. Saint Benedict, which ran its record to 6-3 overall, has made defense its calling card in the five-game winning streak. The Bennies, which ran their series record to 3-0 against Cornell, have allowed seven or fewer goals per game in the streak and a total of 27 or 5.4 per-game.
"This was a gritty win by the team today. The team battled through some hardships today and were able to come away with a hard-fought win against a conference team," said CSB head coach
Patrick Crandall. "
Chloe Lewis and the defense played well today and came away with quality stops when the team needed it," he said.
Lewis, a sophomore goalie, had 15 saves and allowed just the six goals as she improved to 6-2-0 this year after 60 minutes in goal. The defense was especially impressive after falling behind 3-1 after one quarter. Then, Lewis and the defense did not allow a goal in the second quarter while the Bennie offense put up three for a 4-3 lead. In the third quarter, CSB had a 2-1 edge and a 3-2 margin in the final quarter in running their record to 5-3 in road games.
CSB, which outscored Cornell, 8-5 over the final three quarters, had two goals from junior
Emma Osland, sophomore
Sami Hackley, and first-year standouts
Emma Halweg and
Lizzie Schrubbe. CSB also had a goal plus an assist from sophomore
Grace Fitzgibbons.
"Our normal offensive output dipped a bit today, but Lizzie (Schrubbe) had another good game and led us with four points. It shows you that every now and then you have these games where you have to dig deep and tough out a win. This team did that today. It wasn't pretty but it was a good win for the team," Crandall said.
Hackley, who now has 18 career multi-goal performances, has 33 goals and 39 points on the season. She now has 70 career goals and 86 points.
As for Schrubbe, she continues to build her team-leading point total up to 51 on the season. With two goals, she now has 22 on the season and with two assists for 29 points to lead CSB. Schrubbe has seven multi-goal games this year. Osland, who has 15 goals this year, registered her sixth multi-goal in 2024 and 14
th for her career. Halweg has reached double digits in goals with 10 and has three multi-goal performances.
In the win, both teams registered 25 shots with CSB holding a 19-to-16 edge over the final three quarters. CSB had a 15-to-8 mark in saves and both teams had 27 turnovers. The Bennies were 13-of-22 on clears but trailed in ground balls, 22-to-18, and draw controls, 11-to-8.
Game Summary
In the opening quarter, Cornell's India Smith (8:08, :15) had a pair of goals for a 3-1 lead as Halweg (:42) had CSB's only tally. Saint Benedict turned things around in the second quarter with goals from Osland (11:29), Hackley (10:43) and Schrubbe (9:43). Schrubbe assisted on Hackley's goal and Fitzgibbons also had an assist.
After Cornell tied the game on Sabrina Ibanez's goal (9:16) in the second quarter, Osland (7:30, off Hackley's assist) and Fitzgibbons (6:22, unassisted) recorded goals for a 6-4 lead. Early in the fourth quarter, Smith's (13:54) unassisted tally drew Cornell within, 6-5. Hackley answered (13:54) on a Schrubbe assist. Again, Cornell cut the lead to one (7-6) before Halweg's second goal (11:51) gave the Bennies an 8-6 lead. Schrubbe iced the game off an assist by Osland for the 9-6 final.
