The combination of timely offense and tough as nails defense is hard to beat.
Hamline had both options going Friday in a 14-2 win over Augsburg in a Midwest Women's Lacrosse Conference semifinal game Friday at Klas Field. The Pipers (17-1) advanced to the championship game for the third consecutive season. They will play the winner of the upcoming Illinois Tech-Aurora game Saturday, May 4 at Klas at 6:00 p.m. The winner of that game gets an automatic berth in the NCAA D-III tournament.
Alycia Monserrate Novotny scored four goals and Lexus Tatge added three to pace the Piper offense, which scored seven times in each half. Brayden Maass and Kalley Elwell added two each for HU, which wore the Auggies down, outshooting their foes by a 38-22 margin.
Goalie Molly Dionne recorded 10 saves and had help from a steady defensive effort the entire day.
It was a defensive game early with Hamline scoring just twice in the first 12 and a half minutes of play. HU kept attacking, from several angles. By halftime, six different scorers had found the mark and Hamline had a 7-0 lead. Tatge, who became the first player in school history to pass the 200 point barrier for a career, scored 34 seconds into the second stanza and Maass followed two minutes later as the Pipers pulled away from their Minneapolis neighbors.
In addition to the edge in shots, HU had 27 grounds balls to the Auggies' 17. The Auggies finish the season 8-8.