ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Women's Lacrosse team opened up Midwest Lacrosse Conference play on Saturday at the College of Saint Benedict under sunny skies. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the good weather did not bring about a 1-0 start to the conference season as their opponents used a strong first quarter to set the table for an 18-7 win for the home team.
The Bennies raced out to a 5-0 lead before
Emma Snyder (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) found the back of the net with 4:13 left in the opening quarter. CSB tacked on one more score with 33 seconds left to take a 6-1 lead into the second frame. Saint Benedict opened up the second quarter strong as well with a pair of goals, bit
Cara Smith's (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) goal with 3:56 left cut the deficit to 8-2. One more Bennies goal made it 9-2 at halftime in favor of the hosts.
The lead grew to 11-2 after a pair of CSB goals to open quarter number three, but that's when UNW, and specifically
Ainsley Thompson (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview), caught fire. Thompson scored with 1:48 remaining in the quarter, assisted on an
Abby Scheel (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) goal 55 seconds later, then scored again herself with 19 seconds left. The spectacular 1:29 from the senior made the score 11-5 after three and suddenly gave Northwestern some life.
The Bennies, however, had other ideas. Three goals in the opening 4:29 of the final stanza essentially put to bed any hope of an Eagles comeback. Thompson found the back of the net again with 10:12 to go to seal her hat trick, but CSB answered back just over a minute later to make it 15-6. Scheel found Smith moments later for UNW's final goal to briefly cut the lead to eight, but Saint Ben's scored thrice more to close out the contest and cap off an 18-7 win. The loss dropped Northwestern to 4-6 overall and 0-1 in the MLC.
Thompson was the spark plug for the Eagles in the losing effort, scoring three goals and adding an assist. Smith added two goals, three caused turnovers and three draw controls. Snyder scored once and won two draw controls, while Scheel tallied one goal and one assist.
Gabrielle Milroy (Superior, Wis./Lakeview Christian Academy) led the team in ground balls with three, while
Reegan Duininck (Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian) tied Smith for the team lead in caused turnovers with three.
Maddie Hauer (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) led the team in draw controls, finishing with four.
Next up for Northwestern will be another road conference game as the Eagles travel to Augsburg on Wednesday, April 10
th for a date with the Auggies. The draw is scheduled for 7:00 PM in Minneapolis.
