ST. JOSEPH, Minn.—The top-seeded College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (9-4) will host No. 2 seed Lake Forest (13-3) in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference Tournament Championhip game on Saturday, May 4 at 3:00 p.m. at the CSB Stadium Turf Athletic Field. 

The winner of the tournament championship earns an automatic berth into the NCAA DIII national tourney.

Saint Benedict wins MLC for second straight year
Saint Benedict clinched the Midwest Lacrosse Conference regular season title for a second straight year after a 14-13 road win against Lake Forest. The victory, which included hat tricks from Emma Nelson, Sami Hackley and Emma Halweg, was the second in three years against Lake Forest, which won the MLC two years ago. CSB went on to defeat Hamline in the MLC semifinal game by a score of 19-9 on Wednesday, May 1 as Emma Osland had five goals while Hackley and Halweg each had four goals.

Season Review
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. A day later, on March 10, defeated Milwaukee School of Engineering, 19-4 as Schrubbe scored nine points.  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 while first year Lizzie Schrubbe added six points (2 goals/ 4 assists). On March 30, CSB defeated Elmhurst University, 20-5, on the road. On Saturday, April 6. CSB defeated the University of Northwestern 18-7, as Sami Hackley scored seven goals to lead St. Ben's. Saint Benedict most recently defeated Cornell College 9-6 on April 20 where Schrubbe had four points while Osland and Hackley tallied three points apiece. CSB also had a 15-13 win over Hamline as first-year Lizzie Schrubbe set school records with 11 assists and 12 points. Then, CSB had a come-from-behind 14-13 win at Lake Forest, which gave CSB their MLC title. Saint Benedict fell in the regular season finale to nonconference opponent UW-River Falls, 16-11. Most recently, The Bennies opened up the MLC Semifinals with a 19-9 win over Hamline on May 1. CSB is now 2-1 after the victory in which Emma Osland scored five goals while Emma Halweg and Sami Hackley each tallied four goals. 

Program Records

Sami Hackley set the school record for goals in a game with nine against Augsburg on April 19, 2024 where she also recorded 12 shots on goal.  First-year Lizzie Schrubbe has set a pair of school game records including assists in a game with 11 and points in a game with 12 in the win over Hamline.   

About the Foresters
Lake Forest, which is directed by second-year Casey Riley, most recently beat Cornell College 16-to-7 in Lake Forest, Ill. LFC has a 271-147 advantage in goals and lead in ground balls, 389-to-323. The Foresters lead 278-to-178 in draw controls vs opponents. Ryleigh Nelson leads the team with 51 goals while Jenna Doctor  has 74 goals and 10 assists.

Series notes
In the all-time series, the Bennies own a 2-1 lead. CSB captured a 14-13 win on April 27, 2024 in Lake Forest, Ill. CSB won the first match-up, 16-15, on April 12, 2023 at St. Joseph. In the 2023 tournament championship, the Forresters took a 16-6 win over CSB on May 6, 2023.

CSB has nine student-athletes honored by MLC in year-end awards
Nine student-athletes from the College of Saint Benedict have been recognized by the Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference (MLC). Eight CSB players were first or second team all-conference honorees and another was honored for sportsmanship in voting by the league coaches. Named to the All-MLC first team was second-year goalie Chloe Lewis, and sophomore middle Grace Fitzgibbons, who both earned their second straight all-league first team honor. In addition, first-year attacker Lizzie Schrubbe was named to the first team. CSB had five second-team honorees including sophomore Sami Hackley, junior Emma Osland and second year attacker Ella Steinke, who all earned back-to-back All-MLC honors. In addition, junior defender Emma Schrepfer and first-year middle Emma Nelson were also selected second team All-MLC. First-year Tess Cavanaugh was recognized with a sportsmanship honor.

In her second season in goal, Chloe Lewis, a pre-law major from Brooklyn Park, Minn., was one of the MLC's top defensive players. Twice, she has been named MLC Defensive Player of the Week. In two seasons, she has a 19-6 record, including 9-3-0 in 2024. With 18 saves in the playoffs opener, Lewis had her fifth straight game and 11th time in her career with double-digit saves. In the MLC, she ranks third in saves with 132 with a 49.4 save percentage. In her career, she has 274 saves with a 9.37 career per game saves average.
 
Grace Fitzgibbons, a global business and computer science major from Minneapolis, has 21 goals and 12 assists for 33 points while recording a .792 shot on goal percentage in 2024. She also had 20 ground balls and 43 draw controls. In two seasons and 27 games, she has 52 goals, 25 assists and 77 points with 51 ground balls and 77 draw controls. This year Fitzgibbons had seven multi-goal games with a with a high of five against Hamline on March 20, 2024 in a 16-6 victory. In her career, she has 14 multi-goal games and five games of four goals or more, including six against Augsburg on April 29, 2023 when she had a career-best eight points.

Also earning first-year honors was Lizzie Schrubbe, an exercise and health science major from Andover, Minn. She leads CSB and ranks fifth in the MLC with 75 points, including a program-best 47 assists and 28 goals in 13 games. She has 29 ground balls, three draw controls and two game winning goals. In her first year, she has nine multi-goal games with a high of five against Augsburg on April 12. Twice, she has double-digit point totals, which is also a program-first. Schrubbe set the school record of points with 12 points and assists with 11 against Hamline in a 15-13 win on April 24. Five times she has had five or more assists in a game.

Hackley, a biology major from Plymouth, Minn., earn her second straight league honor after leading CSB in goals. Twice in her career, she has been MLC Offensive Player of the Week. A year ago, she was the MLC Rookie of the Year. With four goals in the playoff win over Hamline, she now has 47 goals, which ranks fifth in the MLC, and 54 points (seven assists) this season. Earlier this season, Hackley set a school record with nine goals in a 23-3 victory against Augsburg. In her career, she now has 84 goals with 21 multi-goal games, including 10 straight, while registering 11 games of four goals or more in her career. She has 17 career assists and 101 career points with 67 ground balls and 76 draw controls in 26 games.

Steinke, a biology major from Plymouth, Minn., has 16 points, 12 assists and 28 points along with 23 ground balls and 19 draw controls this season. In her career, she has registered multi-goals nine times and scored four in a game twice. In the win over Cornell College a year ago, she scored the first goal ever by a Bennie in the postseason. She also recorded the first-ever goal by a CSB player in the season opener with UW-River Falls in 2023. In her career she has 43 goals, and 19 assists for 62 points. 

A nursing major, Osland again earned all-conference honors. She tied a career-high with five goals in the 19-9 MLC semifinals win over Hamline on May 1. Eight times this year and 15 times in her career, Osland has tallied multi-goal games. In her career, she has played 27 games with 45 goals, nine assists and 54 points. She has 50 ground balls and 48 draw controls.

A junior biology major from Andover, Minn., Schrepfer was primarily a key player on defense this year and finished with an assist, 12 ground balls and 12 draw controls. In 27 games in her career, she has 26 starts, 24 goals, 15 assists and 39 points while grabbing 35 ground balls and recording 14 draw controls.

Nelson, a first-year biochemistry major from Stillwater, Minn., has been solid in the middle for CSB with 22 goals and six assists for 28 points. Eight times, she has multi-goal games and that includes each of the past four games. She has totaled 26 ground balls and 33 draw controls this season.

In earning the MWLC Sportsmanship honor, first-year Tess Cavanaugh from Edina, Minn., had six goals and one assist for seven points in playing 12 games with two starts. She had eight ground balls and two draw controls.

Head Coach Patrick Crandall - 2nd Season
Directed by head coach Patrick Crandall, the Bennies have won back-to-back titles in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference in its two years as a program. CSB has a perfect 12-0 in regular season play in the MLC and stand 2-1 in conference tournament games. This year, Crandall directed the Bennies to a 9-4 record including 5-0 in the MLC. A year ago, he directed CSB to a 7-0 record in league play 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. Crandall's all-time mark at CSB sits at 19-7. CSB is now 12-0 in regular season MLC games. 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." A year ago, six team members of the CSB team were named to the All-MWLC team while Sami Hackley was the conference "Rookie of the Year." In 2024, eight players were all-league with another earning sportmanship recogition. A year ago, 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.