With the mid-October sun shining bright on Marywood’s turf field, the Pacers hosted the Mighty Macs of Immaculata on Saturday. It was both teams’ second conference matchup of the season, with each earning victories in their first..
Marywood started off hot by pinning the Mighty Macs in their half, a trend that would continue throughout the game. The Pacers’ high-pressure style of play led to a chance for graduate student Maria Tomada in the latter stages of the second quarter, which narrowly missed the top-right corner. Marywood dominated the first half, outshooting Immaculata 13-0 through the first two quarters, but did not manage to sneak any of those shots past the Mighty Macs’ goalkeeper.
The second half initially saw much more of the same. Marywood once again held possession in Immaculata territory, but this time, its efforts would pay off. With six minutes left in the third quarter, junior Dariane Jones passed the ball to Tomada off of a corner. Tomada’s shot ricocheted off of Jones’ stick and into the back of the Mighty Macs’ net, giving Marywood a 1-0 lead.
As the game’s end drew near, Immaculata fought desperately to find a spark. That spark came with 10 minutes left in regulation after Marywood conceded a penalty shot. Immaculata converted, tying the game at 1-1. Neither squad was able to overcome the other in the final 10 minutes, sending the game into overtime.
The first overtime period uneventfully came and went, with Marywood’s usual offensive pressure unable to yield a winner. With just over seven minutes left in the second period, however, lightning struck twice for the Pacers.
Following another corner, Tomada passed to Jones from the top of the arc. Jones weaseled her way through the Immaculata defense before slipping the ball past the goalkeeper, giving Marywood an emphatic 2-1 victory over the Mighty Macs.
Emotions were running high throughout the Pacer sideline after the win.
“I’m really excited because we knew it was going to be a tough game but I feel like we didn’t let our emotions show in the game, and that allowed us to win the game,” said Tomada, who finished with two assists.
“I think they [the team] played with a lot of composure and stuck to the game plan,” added head coach Julie Trott. “We really played for each other, we played as a team. Total team win.”
With the victory over Immaculata, Marywood moves to 10-5 (2-0 AEC) on the season. Jones, who finished with both goals for the Pacers, is confident in her team’s ability to fight for the Atlantic East Conference title.
“We’re definitely going to win the AEC, this game pretty much determined that,” said Jones. “I think it’ll be another hard game when we play them again, but we can definitely win. We did it once, we can do it again.”
Marywood continues its conference-slate with a road matchup against Manhattanville on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m.
All stats are from MarywoodPacers.com as of Oct. 19.
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