Bennie lacrosse begins third season as varsity team

The CSB lacrosse team began their season on February 23 and currently sit 2-4 overall. They’ve faced some conference and nationally ranked teams. This season the Bennies joined the WIAC where they will face various schools across Wisconsin as well as Colorado College.

In their third season as a varsity team at CSB, the Bennies look to continue their success from the program’s first two seasons.

Senior Emma Schrepfer is excited about the season and the work the team is putting in.

“The start of the season has really shown us what we are good at and what we need to focus on. After each game, we know exactly what we need to work on and also do shoutouts, which is awesome because we can look at the positive but also know what we need to do,” Schrepfer said.

In terms of a team goal for the season, Schrepfer said they are working on being connected on the field in their respective positions and being competitive in the WIAC.

In her senior season, Schrepfer’s individual goal is to grow the defensive unit and help it become successful and competitive in the new conference. Additionally, she is focusing on enjoying the last moments of her career.

“I’m most looking forward to finishing up my lacrosse career with this team. We have created a great team culture where we can push each other on and off the field but are also friends who can joke about anything,” Schrepfer said. “I’ve been playing lacrosse for 13 years now, and ending with this team means a ton to me, along with some of the original players who helped start this team and have gotten to watch it grow over the last three years.”

Junior Sami Hackley also looks forward to the rest of the season and hopes to see their team goals come to fruition.

“Our main goal as a team is to make it to the playoffs and compete at the highest level. We are in a new conference, so it means new competition, but it also gives us an opportunity to beat some of the teams that we lost to last year,” Hackley said.

In preparation for the season, Hackley said the team did lots of work in the offseason.

They were weightlifting, having fall ball practices and doing lots of team bonding in order to get to know each other since they have a young team.

“Now, we’re continuing to push ourselves in practice and stay disciplined in order to be successful,” Hackley said.

Hackley is most looking forward to playing in a new conference because they get to compete against new teams.

Coming off the team’s recent trip to play against Colorado College, Hackley said it was a great experience and brought the team even closer, and now it’s time to prepare for the remainder of the season.

“We have to grind for the next month to get into playoff position, which will start in early May,” Hackley said.

Senior Emma Osland said the season has presented new opportunities to keep improving.

“We have faced some really tough teams, which has given us the opportunity to improve in many different areas of the game and build confidence. With a very young team, it has been exciting to watch everyone find their footing and build connections with each other,” Osland said.

In addition to the team’s goals of making the WIAC playoffs and improving in each game and practice, Osland’s goals for the season are to lead by example and be a person the younger players look up to both on and off the field.

With this being her senior season, Osland is excited for the memories she will make.

“We have so much fun at practices and while traveling for games, which is something I will truly miss after I graduate,” Osland said.

Head coach Patrick Crandall said the team has been on the grind so far this season with facing competitive teams.

“We’ve had a good mix of easing into the season, and now we’re hitting the point of the season where we’re facing some nationally ranked teams, but it’s been a good buildup and we’re staying healthy and positive, which has been great,” Crandall said.

The team’s biggest goal this season is to make the WIAC’s top four and advance to the conference playoffs. Crandall said they have some pivotal conference games coming up.

Crandall is looking forward to seeing how the team comes off the Colorado trip.

“I’m excited to see them take what they learned and put it in place because it was a big growing experience. I’m really looking forward to what this team does once we have some more home games and can come together to learn from what we did and implement it into our play,” Crandall said.

The Bennies have a pair of home games Saturday and Sunday against UW-La Crosse and Northern Michigan.