After going winless in 2013, no one outside of the program entertained any visions of a successful 2014 season for the Misericordia University women's lacrosse program.
 
That was evident by the unanimous last place ranking in the 2014 Freed Conference Pre-Season poll.
 
Inside the program, however, the coaching staff and players believed that reaching the post-season in 2014 was a strong possibility.
 
After opening the Freedom schedule with an impressive win over defending conference champion, FDU-Florham, the Cougars went on to finish the regular season at 7-8 overall, including a 4-2 mark in league play.
 
Under second-year head coach Chrissy Trescavage, the Cougars will make their first post-season appearance since 2008 when they visit second-seeded Wilkes for a Freedom Conference semifinal, Thursday, May 1 at 5:00.
 
"Based on our recruiting class and the work that our returning players put in during the off-season, we knew that we were going to be a very competitive team this season," said Trescavage.  "We played a strong non-conference schedule and we believed that we would have a chance to make the post-season."
 
Wilkes won the regular season meeting a week ago, 18-10.  The winner will advance to Saturday's championship game against the Arcadia/FDU-Florham winner.
 
Misericordia relied on a balanced scoring attack that featured seven players with at least 20 points.
 
Junior Melina Juliano led the team in goals, assists and points (41g, 12a, 53pts.) while freshman Liz Mulvey was second with 32 goals and 35 points.
 
Seniors Kate Pagnotta (27g, 4a) and Jenny Perucca (18g, 10a) added 31 and 28 points, respectively.
 
First-year player Erin Baker (19g, 5a) had 24 points and junior Brooke North (20g, 3a) had 23 points.
 
Sophomore Allie Elmes (19g, 2a) added 21 points.
 
At the other end, freshman goalie Katie McLoughlin tied the school record with six wins while stopping 45.2% of the shots she faced and allowing 13.54 goals per game.