IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata women's lacrosse team (2-1, 1-0 Atlantic East) returned home on Saturday afternoon to host Wesley (1-1, 0-1) in what was the team's Atlantic East opener and senior day. In a game which was closely contested throughout the first half, Immaculata used a strong second half to pick up its second win in a row and first in Atlantic East play over Wesley by a final of 13-7.

Prior to the beginning of the game, Immaculata honored its senior class of Molly Gallagher, Maura Murray, and Rachel Tuttle for their contributions to the program throughout their careers as Mighty Macs.

Immaculata opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the game as Tessa Liberatoscioli won the opening draw and turned it into instant offense to give the Macs an early lead. Wesley responded quickly to even the score at 1-1 in the early going. Kaitlyn Klitchko scored a goal of her own just five minutes later to give Immaculata a 2-1 advantage. Wesley responded with two goals of its own to claim a 3-2 lead with 20 minutes to play.

With 12:01 to play in the first half, Liberatoscioli scored her second goal of the contest off a feed to the middle from Maura Murray to even the score at 3-3.

Wesley tallied another goal with 2:48 to play in the half, which allowed the Wolverines to carry  a slim 4-3 lead into the halftime break.

Immaculata opened the scoring in the second half once again with a goal from Maddy Terry off an assist from Murray to even the score at 4-4. Wesley answered back with a goal of its own to reclaim a 5-4 lead over the Macs. Liberatoscioli responded with three goals over the next seven minutes to erase the deficit and give Immaculata a 7-5 lead midway through the second half of play. Terry scored her second goal of the half and the game with 13:43 to play, which stretched the lead to 8-5.

With under 11 minutes to play, Liberatoscioli struck quickly scoring a pair of goals in a 10-second span to extend the Immaculata lead to 10-5. Wesley responded with a goal of its own with 8:15 to play in the contest, to trim the lead to 10-6. Liberatoscioli struck again with 5:09 to play for her eighth of the afternoon before Ashley Hankin scored her first of the game with 1:58 to play to extend the lead to 12-6.

Wesley answered with a goal of its own with 1:49 to play to cut the Macs lead to 12-7  late in the second half. Murray added another goal for the Macs off a free-position attempt with 40 seconds to play to restore a six-goal lead (13-7) late in the contest, which the Macs would go on to win by.

Liberatoscioli had a huge day for the Mighty Macs ending the contest with eight goals, which ranks second in team history for goals in a single game while also logging seven draw controls, three ground balls, and causing one turnover in the victory.

Fellow freshman Emily Mendel tied with senior Maura Murray for the Macs lead in caused turnovers as they each registered five while Molly Gallagher logged a team best eight ground balls in the victory.

Between the pipes, Katie Mulvey had a great day for the Macs making 11 saves to earn her second victory of the year. Mulvey also ended her afternoon with four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.

As a team, Immaculata was an impressive 24-of-27 on clear attempts while also winning 12-of-22 draw controls en route to the victory. The Macs also outshot their guests 33-24 including a 27-18 edge in shots on goal.

Immaculata will be back in action on Wednesday afternoon at Marymount with that contest set to begin at 4 p.m.
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