Edwardsville, Pa. — The Marywood University women's lacrosse season could not have gotten off to a more sluggish start. Forget the steady downpour or even the brutal wind. The Pacers found themselves in a five-goal hole in a mere 17 minutes into their season.

Marywood rallied out of a five-oh deficit with eight unanswered goals to capture a victory in its season opener on Tuesday. The Pacers held off Wilkes for a 12-11 victory.

Emma Solomon ignited the Pacers with a four-point performance that included seven ground balls and three caused turnovers. Solomon scored three goals and an assist.

Both Alaina Brenneman and Kayla McCabe led Marywood with five points. Brenneman scored four goals and an assist, and McCabe contributed three goals and two assists.

Marywood's first quarter horrors allowed for Wilkes to take a 4-0 lead at the first intermission. The Colonels out-shot the Pacers 13-0 and doubled the Pacers 10-5 in ground balls. The Pacers were able to convert only 2 of 6 clear attempts and committed 10 giveaways in the opening 15 minutes.

Wilkes took a 5-0 lead when Domencia Lerch scored a free-position goal with 13:42 left in the second quarter.

Ashley Cunningham's collected back-to-back draw controls to start the Pacers' comeback. Brenneman ended the Pacers' scoreless drought with an unassisted goal at 12:53. Marywood scored twice in an 18-second span to cut Wilkes' lead to two. Olivia Stollsteimer one-timed a shot from McCabe, and McCabe connected on a free-position shot.

Trailing. by one at half, Marywood opened the second half with an equalizer. Solomon tallied a goal at 13:47 of the third on a McCabe feed. Two minutes later, Solomon picked up a ground off a blocked Brenneman shot and took it to net to give Marywood its first lead (6-5) of the game. Marywood's lead expanded to 8-5 on a Solomon netter from Brenneman at 6:51. Her goal marked an 8-0 run in a 21-minute span.

Wilkes (0-2) nearly erased a four-goal deficit. The Colonels' Breanne Fulling scored back-to-back to put her team within 11-10 with 7:28 remaining in the game. McCabe responded with a goal at 6:09 to put Marywood's lead back at two, curling around from the right of the base line to put a shot past the Wilkes keeper.

After collecting the ball on an expired shot clock, Wilkes raced downfield to score on a Savannah Bauman tally with 1:44 left.

McCabe earned the draw control but gave the ball away in the backfield. Wilkes turned the ball over on an illegal pick, and McCabe cleared the ball to ensure the Pacers' season-opening win.

Wilkes out-shot Marywood by a 30-25 margin. Both teams finished 21-21 on ground balls. After the first quarter, Marywood committed just 10 turnovers.

Tori Wilson and Cunningham each had three ground balls.

Emily Dyminski made 12 saves.

Wilkes had a four-goal effort from Savannah Bauman. Lerch finished with two goals, three assists, four caused turnovers and five ground balls.

Marywood returns to the Diamond City to take on King's College on Thursday.