Mercy dominated the second half to defeat Pal-Mac 13-9.  The Monarchs scored 9 of the last 11 goals in the contest to come back from a three goal deficit.  The main difference in the second half was ball-time.  Mercy picked up the draw controls in the second half and denied the Red Raiders the ball. Leading in draw controls for Mercy was Karli Harnischfeger with 5.

When on offense, Pal-Mac was often pressed into less than ideal shots to try and keep up with the Monarch offense in the second half.  Mercy’s offense would be patient before shooting and even with a missed shot or save, they often pressed on for the second or third attempt.  The Monarch had both set plays and on-the-fly drives and had scoring from both.  Leading the offense was sophomore Sami Carey who finished with 5g-1a.  For Pal-Mac, Emma Arnold led with five draw controls, most of which came in the first half.  

Mercy opened up the scoring with Harnischfeger scoring off after scooping a loose ball on the crease.  The Red Raiders responded only 22 seconds later with a feed from Jamie Walker to Andra Savage from behind the cage.  The game went into a small lull with neither team scoring for 5 minutes.  Mercy’s Carey scored the next goal off a single player drive along the right side.  Once again, Pal-Mac responded to tie the game.  Walker scored off a broken clear play that began with Savage.  Savage intercepted the pass from goalie Megan Polidori and quickly pressed the ball up the cage to Walker.  After another five minute break, Carey scored her second goal off an inside feed from Caroline Murphy.  Murphy sent the ball into Carey on the crease.  She then spun around and finished into the back of the cage.  Many of Carey’s goals came from strong single player movements and drives both from the outside as well as after making a catch on the crease.

Pal-Mac scored five of the next six goal to take control of the game.   Alea Javorowsky assisted back to back goals to give Pal-Mac their first lead of the game.  The first goal was scored during fast-break with Javorowsky finding Savage open upfield.  The second was a feed from the right side to Walker.  Pal-Mac led 4-3 with 9:26 remaining in the first half.  The Red Raiders held the lead or a tie for the next 18 minutes.  Mercy scored with 8:01 remaining to tie the game for the 4^th straight time at 4-4.  Kristyn Johnson assisted Dylan Rawleigh from behind the cage.  Pal-Mac kept up the pressure with three more unassisted goals: Savage with a cut down the right side, Grace Seither (8m) and Javorowsky (8m).  Pal-Mac led 7-4 with 2:11 left in the first half.

Mercy then began to take over control, they scored two goals to end the half and nine of the last eleven goals of the game.  Johnson scored with a single player drive from behind the cage and Carey scored with a drive along the right side goal line.  Pal-Mac led the 7-6 lead going into halftime.  Carey scored her fourth goal of the game coming out of halftime on an 8m free position shot.  Pal-Mac scored their second goal off a broken clear with Sophia Lyko scoring and Savage recording the assist.  Mercy scored three more goals (all unassisted): Johnson (8m), Harnischfeger with a single drive, Murphy on a drive from the behind the cage.  The final Red Raider goal was scored by Savage off an 8m free position.  For the third time, Mercy responded to a goal with three of their own.  Carey scored off a clearing fast-break straight down the middle.  Freshman Danyele Emler scored her first goal of the season off a feed from Carey with 4:10 remaining in the game.  The final goal was scored by Murphy with a single player drive.