Lebanon Valley 9, Immaculata 8

LVC Starters
Brown, Garman, Mercer, Farwell, Kudlak, Mowry, Bushong, Wagner, Torrence, Epple (GK)

Immaculata Starters
Fisher, Doyle, Mistretta, Shultis, Abruzzo, Kemble, Roche, Aikins, Custodio (GK), Reardon

How It Happened
Lebanon Valley staved off a late Immaculata comeback and held on to defeat the Mighty Macs 9-8 in the Dutchmen's 2016 home opener on Wednesday afternoon. LVC evened its record to 1-1, while Immaculata fell to 0-3.

Jacques Mercer got the Dutchmen going less than two minutes into the game when he found the back of the net to give LVC an early 1-0 lead. Just eight seconds later, Jeremy Beaver ran down the field and beat the Mighty Macs' goalie to make it a 2-0 contest.

Immaculata's Sam Zinagro brought the Mighty Macs to within one at 9:43 when he scored, and at 4:56 in the first quarter, Mike Reardon tied the game at 2-2 when he scored for Immaculata. With 19 seconds to go in the first, Brett Kudlak put LVC back on top at 4-3 with his third tally of the season.

In the second quarter, Brian Shultis scored a man-up goal for Immaculata to even the game once again, this time at 3-3. With 7:38 left in the second, Mercer notched his second of the game on an unassisted tally, but at 2:15 of the second, Reardon tied it up at 4-4. With just seven ticks left on the clock in the first half, Mercer got the hat trick and gave the Dutchmen a narrow 5-4 lead heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, LVC barely wasted any time lighting the scoreboard, as the Dutchmen's Alex Bushong made it a 6-4 game thanks to an assist by Beaver. Less than 30 seconds later, Austin Minnich extended the advantage to 7-4 when he scored off an assist by Klayton Garman. After Immaculata made it 7-5 at 10:49, Bushong struck again at 9:31, extending the lead back to three at 8-5. Mercer scored his fourth of the game to make 9-5, however the Mighty Macs scored twice in a minute and a half to make it 9-7.

At 2:39 of the fourth, Immaculata scored another man-up goal to come to within one at 9-8, however LVC was able to hold the Mighty Macs off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game and come out on top at 9-8.

Top Performances
 - Mercer finished with four goals, 12 shots, and two groundballs to pace the Dutchmen.
 - Bushong had two goals and picked up a team-high five ground balls. He also caused four turnovers, tying Bobby Doughty for the team lead on the afternoon.
 - Beaver went 14-for-20 from the faceoff circle.

Inside the Numbers
 - LVC dominated in shots at a 41-19 margin.
 - Cameron Epple made seven saves for the Dutchmen to earn the first victory of his young career.
 - The Dutchmen held the edge in ground balls as a team at 24-12.

Who's Next?
LVC plays host to Muhlenberg on Saturday at 1 p.m.