IMMACULATA, Pa.- The third-seeded Immaculata women's lacrosse team is back in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Semifinals for the third consecutive season, and they will be seeking the first CSAC Championship berth in program history on Wednesday night when they travel to No. 2 Neumann for a 7 p.m. game.
 
The Mighty Macs (11-5, 7-2 CSAC) have been here before each of the past two seasons, but have lost to No. 1 Cabrini both times by scores of 21-8 in 2013 and 18-5 in 2014.  This season, the Macs will be playing a new opponent in No. 2 Neumann (10-5, 8-1 CSAC) after earning the third seed in the regular season, the highest in program history.
 
Immaculata extended their program-best winning streak to six games on Saturday afternoon with an 18-6 victory over Notre Dame in the CSAC Quarterfinals.  The game was tight in the first half as IU held an 8-4 lead at the break, but they outscored the Gators 10-2 in the second half to run away with the game.  Senior Danielle Lopez set a career-high and tied a program-record with eight goals on the afternoon, and freshman Hannah Verrecchia added four in her playoff debut.
 
Neumann reached the CSAC Semifinals by way of a bye after earning the number two seed in the regular season with an 8-1 CSAC record.
 
The Knights and Mighty Macs have played once this season already on March 23^rd when Neumann used a second half run to take the lead and pull away in a 15-10 decision.  In that game, juniors Kelly Lapp and Allison Jakavick each scored four goals, while Lopez and freshman Rosemarie Reitman had one goal apiece.  Lapp also led the team with three caused turnovers, and sophomore goalie Christine McIntyre had 10 saves in the game, her highest in a CSAC contest.
 
The Mighty Macs had a great first half, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after goals from Lopez and Reitman, and they held that advantage the rest of the way with a 7-5 lead at the break.  Neumann would tie the game at 8-8 in the second half, but IU got a goal from Lapp at the 20:12 mark to retake a 9-8 lead.  The Knights then went on a critical 7-0 run to take the lead over the next 15 minutes to put the game away.  At the 15:56 mark, Neumann took their first lead of the day, 10-9, and never looked back.
 
For Neumann, Jordan Hopkins had five goals and two assists, while Gabbey Murray, Rebecca Dolenti, Taylor Klever, and Amanda Fedak each had two goals apiece.
 
The Mighty Macs hope to continue this record-setting season as they haven't lost since Wednesday, April 1^st at Cabrini.  With one more win, they will set a new program record with 12 in a season, and they already achieved the high in CSAC victories with seven.
 
IU is led by a trio of 40+ goal scorers who all earned First Team All-CSAC this season.  Lapp (44 goals, 31 assists, career-high 75 points), Jakavick (48 goals, 20 assists), and Lopez (45 goals, 17 assists) have led a potent Immaculata offense all season long, which is averaging nearly 14 goals a game.  Verrecchia is also putting together a great rookie season with 26 goals, and junior Shannon Neill is second on the team with 25 assists.
 
Defensively, the Mighty Macs had their top two defenders recognized with all-conference awards as senior Sam Bonvetti (39 groundballs, 27 caused turnovers) made First Team All-CSAC and freshman Brittany Whaley (40 groundballs, team-high 35 caused turnovers) made Second Team All-CSAC.  As a unit, the Immaculata defense is surrendering just over nine goals per game.
 
For Neumann, they are led offensively by Jordan Hopkins (47 goals, 14 assists) and Amanda Fedak (37 goals).  Rebecca Dolenti (23 goals) and Shae Risley (20 goals) have also been consistent contributors throughout the season.  As a team, they are averaging 13.60 goals per game.
 
Defensively, Alexa McIntyre leads the way with 48 groundballs and 22 caused turnovers.  The Knights also boast the CSAC Rookie of the Year in goalie Gabby Curry who has a goals against average of 9.42 and a save percentage of .493 this season.
 
The winner of this game will face the winner of No. 4 Marywood and No. 1 Cabrini on Saturday at the highest seed's field at a time to be determined.
 
Tonight's game will get underway at 7 p.m., and if you can't make it out, you can follow on Live Stats.