MONMOUTH, Ill. – Augustana left little doubt in its 18-8 non-conference victory over Monmouth in women's lacrosse on Wednesday, March 27 at Thorson-Lucken Field. The Vikings scored the first five goals of the game and seven of the first eight and were never really threatened as they moved over .500 for the season.
 
Senior Carla Bennett (Marian Catholic HS, South Holland, Ill.) led off the onslaught as she scored unassisted before the game was two minutes old to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead. Fellow senior Christina McCabe (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) had the second goal, also unassisted and freshman Kathryn Hettiger (Carmel HS, Carmel, Ind.) made it 3-0 at 24:41 with an assist going to sophomore Sandra Pielechaty (Taft HS, Chicago, Ill.).
 
Bennet got back into the act with the team's fourth goal, this one coming at 21:17 and McCabe getting an assist. Pielechaty scored unassisted at 20:04 to make it 5-0 before the Scots finally answered with a goal by Aspen Chadderdon.
 
Bennett came right back and scored twice unassisted at 16:49 and 14:23 to make it 7-1 in favor of head coach C.J. Holder's bunch.
 
Monmouth scored two goals to trim the lead to 7-3 the Vikings answered with tallies by Hettiger at 9:24 and McCabe at 2:57 to bump the lead to 9-3. Kara-Jade Gordon scored at 2:43 for Monmouth to cut the margin to 9-4 but Bennett hit the back of the nets just :20 before intermission to make it 10-4 at halftime.
 
Bennet picked up where she left off in the second half and scored the first goal unassisted at 28:31. The Vikings got goals from Hettiger and senior Bailey Aasen (Park HS, Cottage Grove, Minn.) to make it 13-4 with 25 minutes left to play.
 
Aasen would score two more goals as would McCabe while freshman Margaret Cecilio (Archbishop Mitty HS, San Jose, Calif.) got the final score with 5:15 left to play that made the tally 18-8.
 
Bennett would finish with six goals while McCabe had four and Aasen and Hettiger scored three apiece. The Vikings outshot their visitors 31-26 and held a 27-21 advantage in ground balls. Augustana cleared 18 of 26 times while Monmouth was successful 11 of 14. The Vikings won 15 draw controls and Monmouth took 13.
 
Hettiger and freshman Cassie Kruse (Hinsdale Central HS, Clarendon Hills, Ill.) shared the team lead in ground balls with four apiece. Goalkeeper Courtney Veitch (Lake Zurich HS, Hawthorn Woods, Ill.) recorded 13 saves in picking up the victory.
 
Augustana is now 4-3 overall while Monmouth goes to 4-4. The Vikings will play on March 30 in Ann Arbor, Michigan against Concordia at 12:00 noon.