ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University women's lacrosse team battled to a back and forth win in thrilling fashion on Saturday afternoon, prevailing by a score of 15-14 over Immaculata University in the first round of the Atlantic East Conference playoffs.

Brittany Cassidy was the hero on the afternoon for the Knights, scoring the game winning goal to go along with her six points (4 g, 2 a). Courtney Petrucelli (4 g), Carlee Herrin (3 g) and Brylin Adams (2 g, 1 a) also recorded multi-point games, while Catriona Corrigan was strong in goal with 11 saves.

Things did not start well for Neumann as the team dug itself an early hole with a sluggish start. Really Fiedler answered an early Immaculata goal to tie the contest at 1-1 at 27:25, but the Mighty Macs would go on a 4-0 run over the next eight minutes to lead 5-1 with 19 minutes left to play in the first frame. After using a timeout to settle themselves, the Knights began to work themselves back into the game. Using a 5-1 run of their own, the hosts would get back to level at 6-6, led by a pair of goals from Adams and single tallies from Cassidy, Petrucelli and Herrin.

Neumann continued to roll late in the half. After the two teams traded a pair of goals each to make it 8-8 with 1:45 left in the half, the Knights scored the final two tallies of the half to take a two-goal lead into halftime at 10-8. Cassidy scored with 1:05 left to play, then Petrucelli found the back of the net with just one second left on the clock to give the hosts momentum heading into the break.

The back and forth battle continued to start the second stanza. Cassidy scored early to give Neumann an 11-8 lead, but two goals from Immaculata brought the score to 11-10 at 26:05. Keri Mallon answered back with a goal for the Knights five minutes later to regain the two goal margin, but again the Mighty Macs responded with a pair of markers to tie the contest up at 12-12 and set up a frenetic finish with 16:38 left to play.

The remainder of the game could not have been any closer. The Knights took the lead on two separate occasions only for the Mighty Macs to answer back again. A Petrucelli goal at 15:24 gave Neumann a 13-12 lead, but Immaculata scored seven minutes later to knot the matchup at 13 apiece. Petrucelli then scored again at 5:57 to put the hosts up 14-13, however once again the visitors found a way to tie things up just a minute later. 

With the game looking destined for overtime, Neumann found one last moment of brilliance to put them over the top. After taking a timeout with 30 seconds left to go, the Knights designed a play for Cassidy to be the hero. Isolated on the left side of the field out of the timeout, the senior standout ran past her defender, cut towards the net and buried her fourth goal of the game past the Immaculata net-minder with just 23 seconds left to play to put the Knights on top for good. Neumann took control of the ensuing draw and closed out the remainder of the game to move on to the Atlantic East semifinals.

With the win, Neumann (11-7, 3-3 Atlantic East) will head to Marywood University next Wednesday, May 1st for a semifinal contest. Game-time in Scranton is to be determined.