IMMACULATA, Pa.-The Mighty Mac women's lacrosse team (10-3) had an offensive outburst on a cold Tuesday night at Draper Walsh Stadium en route to their sixth straight victory as they defeated Gwynedd Mercy (5-9, 3-4 CSAC) by a score of 24-14.  The 24 goals equals a program record for goals in a game and the Mighty Macs locked up their sixth consecutive Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) berth with the victory.
 
Sophomore Layne Kennedy tied the school record for goals in a game with eight and senior Brittany Whaley tied the school record for assists in a game with five.  They each finished with nine points total.
 
Senior Hannah Verrecchia scored five second half goals and added an assist while senior Olivia Carter scored three times.  Verrecchia moved into second on the all-time points list at IU with 214 in her career thus far.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Mighty Macs started well as they scored five of the first six goals of the game.  Sophomore Anna DiDonato got the scoring started from senior Nicole Dominick and Whaley followed with a free position goal.  The Griffins got on the board nine minutes in, but Kennedy scored followed by two more from Whaley, including a nifty spin move before putting it past the goalie for a 5-1 lead
-Gwynedd started to claw their way back in with two goals just under a minute apart, but Kennedy scored her second and third of the half to put the Macs back in front, 7-3, with 12 minutes left before half
-Gwynedd closed the half by scoring four of the last six, with both IU goals coming from Kennedy unassisted and the Macs went into half leading 9-7
-The Mighty Macs dominated the second half right from the jump despite Gwynedd cutting the lead to one with a goal 11 seconds in
-The Macs ripped off five straight, two by senior Olivia Carter, over a five minute stretch to swell their lead to 14-8
-The Griffins scored two of the next three with Carter picking up her third of the half to make it 15-10
-From there, Kennedy scored her seventh of the game before Verrecchia netted four in a row to put the lead at 20-10
-The Mighty Macs cruised the rest of the way and finished off the 24-14 victory
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-The Macs held a 38-37 advantage in shots and 27-21 in groundballs
-IU successfully cleared it 21-of-26 times while Gwynedd did so 14-of-18 times
-Gwynedd turned it over 16 times and the Macs turned it over 19 times
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Goals: Kennedy 8, Verrecchia 5, Whaley 4, Carter 3
-Assists: Whaley 5, Dominick 4
-Points: Kennedy/Whaley 9, Verrecchia 6, Dominick 4
-Sophomore Molly Gallagher was fantastic defensively with four caused turnovers and six groundballs
-Junior Lex Goerlach made several big stops and 14 saves overall
 
WHAT THEY SAID
-Head Coach Janelle Cronmiller: "Our goal at the beginning of every season is to qualify for the playoffs and give ourselves a chance at a conference championship, so we are happy to have that locked up.  We really showed what our offense is capable of tonight with so many contributions from different players.  Hopefully we can continue to play this well moving toward the postseason."
 
UP NEXT
-The Mighty Macs will host Neumann on Saturday at 1 p.m. for Senior Day.