April 29, 2017- The season came to an end yesterday evening for the Concordia-Chicago women's lacrosse team as they took on Benedictine University in the season finale for the second year in a row.  A lot of emotions were bouncing around because the Cougars honored two special seniors that helped build this program in Anna Kellar and Melissa Franco.  CUC didn't let the physicality of the Eagles get to them as the Cougars fought off a late Benedictine rally to win by the final score of 10-8.

The first thirty minutes of the match proved to be a very physical and back and forth match between both teams.  Benedictine netted the first goal on the night, but the Cougars found a way to respond scoring the next goal to stop any momentum the Eagles thought they had.  With Benedictine leading 3-2 midway through the first half, the Cougars put the pressure on the Eagles defense by scoring three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead heading into halftime. Leading the Cougars in the first half, with three goals was Margaret Doane, who has really stepped up her play the final couple weeks of the season.  Concordia-Chicago also got contributions from Sonja Sorenson and Alexandra Clemente scoring her first collegiate goal of her young career.

The second half was about as physical as a lacrosse game as you can see.  It seemed like every ten seconds there was a foul called and someone would be on the turf fighting to get up.  With that, the Cougars toughness really showed as they scored four of the first five goals to give CUC their largest lead of the game at five.  Sydney Fuller led the offense with two goals during that time frame, while Sorenson and Doane added one a piece to take the lead at 9-4.  With under ten minutes remaining, the Eagles made a late run scoring three goals in under a minute to cut the Cougars lead to two.  However, Concordia-Chicago responded with a goal of their own on a beautiful pass from defender Hannah Johnson to Kellar late in the game to give the Cougars a three goal lead again.  Benedictine scored again, but proved to be too late as the Cougars sent off their seniors with a 10-8 victory.

The Cougars finished their second season as a program with a record of 6-11.  After not winning a game last year, adding a few recruits, and more experience from returners, CUC proved to be much improved battling each game and fighting to bring success to this young program.  With more development, the Cougars women's lacrosse future looks to be bright and this is only the beginning.