SCRANTON, Pa. – The Immaculata Mighty Macs women's lacrosse team (2-5) dropped a hard fought battle against the Marywood Pacers (5-2) in the first round of the Atlantic East Conference Championship on Saturday. After finding themselves down early, the Mighty Macs persevered, forcing the game into double overtime with a final score of 8-7.
 
In the first half, Marywood opened the scoring just over one minute into to take an early 1-0 lead. The Pacers added three more goals over the next eight minutes to take a 4-0 lead with 20 minutes to play in the first half.
 
 Following this, Immaculata stiffened defensively as the game went scoreless for the next eight minutes before Tessa Liberatoscioli scored her first goal of the contest with 12:04 to play to trim the deficit to 4-1. Kaitlyn Klitchko found the back of the net with 1:24 to go in the half. With  nine seconds to go in the first half, Erynn Kriebel buried a free position to cut the Maywood lead down to 4-3 heading into the half.
 
After letting up four goals early, the Immaculata defense locked down Marywood's offense, keeping them scoreless for the next 37 minutes, well into the second half.
 
Early on in the second half, Liberatoscioli scored her second goal of the game off a free position to even the score at 4-4 with 25 minutes to play. Liberatoscioli scored again with 19:34 to play for her third goal of the contest, giving Immaculata its first lead of the game at 5-4.
 
With 13:28 to play in the second half, Marywood snapped its nearly 40-minute scoreless streak to even the score at 5-5. Marywood scored again with 8:32 to play to reclaim a slim 6-5 lead.
 
Just over a minute later, Liberatoscioli scored again with 7:45 to play bring the game even at 6-6.
 
Closing in on the final minute of action, Marywood scored to take the 7-6 lead. Immaculata was far from finished, however. With 33 seconds to go, Ashley Hankin used an assist from Maura Murray to even the score at 7-7 and force overtime to decide a winner.
 
After a scoreless first overtime, Marywood scored the game-winning goal with one minute remaining in the second OT to fall by a final of 8-7.
 
On the day, Immaculata out-shot Marywood 30-24. Liberatoscioli made her presence known offensively, scoring four goals on eight shots on goal.
 
Defensively, the Mighty Macs were led by goalkeeper Katie Mulvey, who tallied seven saves on the day.
 
"Katie Mulvey made some unreal saves for us today and helped to keep us in the game the whole time," said Immaculata head coach Nicole Barretta.
 
The Mighty Macs were able to bunker down after their early struggles, keeping Marywood scoreless for nearly 40 minutes while responding goal-for-goal in the late stages of the contest.
"I couldn't be more proud of how we played today, especially our seniors. Every player did exactly what the coaches asked of them and went 110%. We brought energy, we brought a lot of excitement just to be out there and fight for another day and we really set the tone for what we want the team to be in the next coming years. I'm really excited about the future of Immaculata."