ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Despite six goals from Sami Hackley and 18 saves by Chloe Lewis, the College of Saint Benedict lacrosse team (9-5) dropped a heartbreaking 15-14 decision to Lake Forest (14-3) in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday at the CSB Turf Athletic Field.

Saint Benedict ended their season with its second straight MLC regular season title and nearly added the tournament title. The Bennies, which had defeated Lake Forest, 14-13, on April 27 on the road, had a 12-11 lead after three quarters. But Lake Forest rallied for their second straight tournament championship and again earned the MLC's automatic berth to the NCAA DIII national tournament.

Hackley, a two-time All-MLC honoree, had a game-high six goals and had an assist for a game-high seven points. She finished the season with 53 goals and 61 points. In addition, Hackley had her 22^nd multi-goal game with her 11^th straight including 12^th career game of four goals or more.

CSB also had multi-goal games from three others, including two-time first-team All-MLC selection Grace Fitzgibbons, who had a hat trick and provided three assists for six points. She had her 15^th career multi-goal game. First-year Lizzie Schrubbe, another All-MLC selection, added two goals and three assists for five points as she now has 80 points on the season. It was her 10^th multi-goal game this year. Junior Emma Osland, also an MLC honoree, had a pair of goals. In goal two-time All-MLC selection Chloe Lewis had 18 saves for her 12^th double-digit save game of her career.

The Bennies battled from down three goals on two different occasions before grabbing the third quarter lead at 12-10. In the first quarter, Lake Forest, which had four goals from Ali Graham, took a 5-3 lead, despite being outshot, 14-11. CSB had a 4-3 advantage in the second quarter to trail just 8-7 at the half-time break. In the third quarter, the Bennies had a 5-3 advantage to take a 12-11 lead at the quarter break. CSB had the third quarter edge despite being outshot, 13-to-11. In the final quarter, Lake Forest outscored CSB, 4-to-2, including the game winner from Eva Russell with 26 seconds to play.

Overall, Lake Forest had a 37-to-36 shots edge while CSB had an 18-to-10 margin in saves. The Bennies had a 32-to-12 margin in ground balls while the Forresters held a 19-to-14 advantage in draw controls.

Game Summary –
Graham (14:49) opened the scoring for Lake Forest before Fitzgibbons (11:22) and Hackley (8:42) scored back-to-back goals for a 2-1 lead. After two goals by Lake Forest, Hackley used an assist from Fitzgibbons to tie the game at 3-3. The Forresters scored three straight goals, including two by Ella Maher for a 6-3 lead early in the second quarter.

However, the Bennies responded with three straight goals to draw even as Hackley (9:54), Schrubbe (9:26) and Fitzgibbons (7:28) scored for CSB. After a goal by Lake Forest, Hackley (1:58) again tied the game at 7-7. The Foresters proceeded to record three straight goals for a 10-7 advantage at 13:24 of the third quarter.

In response, CSB rallied again, and this time took a 12-10 lead with five straight goals including tallies from Fitzgibbons (10:58), Osland (10:49), Hackley (6:10), Halweg (3:34) and Schrubbe (2:21). Then Graham scored twice to lead a four-goal run by Lake Forest for a 14-12 lead at the 7:02 mark.

Again, the Bennies had an answer as Hackley (5:38) and Osland (4:51) scored goals to even the score at 14-14. Then after both teams had scoring opportunities, Russell's game-winner came with 26 seconds left to play and gave Lake Forest the MLC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA DIII tournament.