Dominick Ingram, Staff Writer

With the Augsburg winter sports coming to a close, the spring sports are just starting. The Auggie lacrosse team will definitely be a team to watch out for, coming off one of their most successful seasons in program history. The team is part of the Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Conference (MWLC), where they had a stellar record of 10–1 against conference opponents and 13–5 record overall last season. Last year’s roster graduated four seniors, so the Auggies will be searching for some new leadership. They will have to fill a huge gap as goaltender will be Marissa Guillou graduating. Guillou was considered to be the top goalkeeper in the MWLC in 2018, leading the conferences in both goals-against-average (GAA) (5.97) and save percentage (.552). Guillou’s GAA ranked fourth-best in the NCAA Division-III, while her save percentage was ninth-best last season. Rising sophomore Maddie Seykora will likely be the next candidate to take over for the Auggies. Seykora played in 12 games and started five games last season, finishing with 39 saves and one win.

Arguably the best defender in the conference, Christina Nelson will be back this season to lead the Auggie defense once again. Nelson finished her 2018 campaign with an MWLC-leading and single-season school-record 111 draw controls. She also had team-best totals of 42 caused turnovers and 49 ground balls, while also scoring six goals on 16 shots.

  The Auggies will look to build on their successful season last year under fifth-year coach Kathryn Knippenberg. Under Knippenberg’s tenure, the Auggies are 49–31 overall, including a 24–7 record in its three seasons of MWLC play. She helped set new marks for wins in both overall and conference play in 2018. The Auggies will be determined to qualify for the MWLC postseason playoffs for the fourth-straight year. Augsburg opens their season with a back-to-back this weekend against Sewanee on Saturday (Feb. 23) and then Carthage College on Sunday (Feb. 24). Both games will be held at Edor Nelson Field.

Auggie Eagle getting ready to support spring sports teams after a very successful Winter season. Photo by Jim Pfeffer.

This article was originally published in the Feb. 22, 2019 issue.