NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Things were in the favor of host Holy Cross during the early moments of Wednesday's women's soccer matchup against Roosevelt, as the Saints took a one-goal lead following a successful seventh-minute penalty kick.
Then Jamie Beniac and the relentless Lakers happened.
Beniac scored the tying and go-ahead goals less than 40 seconds apart midway through the first half en route to a hat trick, and Roosevelt used a whopping 38-6 shot advantage to overwhelm the Saints by a final of 6-1.
Monica Munoz scored a goal and assisted on another while Erika Edmonds and Alyssa Braun notched late strikes for the Lakers (4-3-0, 1-1-0 CCAC), who barraged Holy Cross (1-6-1, 0-2-0 CCAC) and goalkeeper Hayley Deisinger by taking 28 shots on frame.
The antagonist was Beniac, the All-CCAC forward who would not allow an early deficit to sink the Green and White.
Beniac scored first on a ball from Carli Schlaker with 25:13 on the clock before beating Deisinger 38 seconds later after a pass from Munoz for the go-ahead marker.
Munoz scored on an aided ball from Chelsea Olson in the 40th minute to help Roosevelt take a 3-1 lead into intermission, and less than 10 minutes into the second half it was the noggin of Beniac that snapped in a corner off the boot of Julia Schultz to notch the three-goal showing within a 30-minute span of match time.
Beniac assisted on Edmonds' goal in the 73rd minute, giving Beniac a seven-point afternoon, and Braun slammed the door shut with a 76th-minute tally for the no-doubt decision.
Maria Narcisi played over 73 minutes between the pipes, allowing just the PK score, before giving way to rookie Kara Jones.
In addition to the astounding shot advantage, the Lakers had a 14-1 lead in corner kick attempts.
Roosevelt takes on Trinity Christian in Palos Heights this Saturday.
