ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team opened preseason play on Saturday night with a 17-4 exhibition victory over the University Minnesota club squad at the Concordia Dome at Sea Foam Stadium.
The exhibition season continues with a Saturday afternoon home contest against Hamline University on February 17 at 1:30 p.m. at Concordia Dome. The regular season is less than two weeks away when CSP hosts #3 Lindenwood on Friday, February 23 at 6 p.m. in the only non-conference home game.
It was a well-rounded team victory for a squad looking to mesh roles of returners who had established roles during an 8-8 inaugural 2017 season with its second recruiting class, a talented group of seven freshmen.
The results of an additional year of strength & conditioning training, practice and the added talent from a new recruiting class showed increased depth and cohesion compared to a year ago when the Golden Bears topped the Golden Gophers 19-10 in its first ever exhibition game.
In the game last year, CSP jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first 15 minutes before the Gophers trimmed it to a three goal margin early in the second half when a 6-0 run by Concordia put the game away.
This year, the Bears once again got out to a strong start despite a 1-1 tie game in the third minute. Concordia made a 12-0 run in the final 25 minutes of the first half and kept the game in running time (10-plus goal lead) the rest of the night, showing the experience of playing with a big lead to put a game away.
The team's midfielders made the difference in building and maintaining the big lead. The team's two veterans, senior
Kallie LaValle and
Sheala Osborne were both instrumental in the mid-game. LaValle was one of two players to notch a six-point performance (3g, 3a) while Osborne also had a hat trick (3g) with an assist while adding a pair of caused turnovers and a pair of ground balls.
Sophomore
Kailey Heinl was disruptive all-around, scoring a pair of goals on five shots while adding team-highs with six ground balls, six caused turnovers and three draw controls.
Adding immediate impact to the midfielders was freshman
Raelyn Korinek with a hat trick on three shots, also securing a pair of draw controls and a ground ball.
The attack was led by sophomore
Maddie Hentges who matched LaValle's six-point performance (3g, 3a) on a team-high six shots.
In the cage, Concordia split time between incumbent net-minder
Katie Lottsfeldt and rookie
Claire Hagen. Lottsfeldt allowed just one goal while playing the first 30 minutes while each player had a pair of saves on the night.
The Gophers were led by Amy Rankila's two goals while Abby O'Neil added two points (1g, 1a).
Concordia rolled to a 31-12 shot advantage (24 to 8 SOG) including a dominant 21-5 mark in the first half (17 to 3 SOG).
Concordia also forced 15 of Minnesota's 24 turnovers in the first half while committing just 15 total on the night offensively, leading to a 23-13 margin in ground balls.
