IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata men's lacrosse team opened its season on Saturday afternoon vs Shenandoah. The Mighty Macs battled throughout the afternoon but a first-half run by the Hornets was enough for Shenandoah to earn the 16-5 victory.

After a scoreless first six minutes of the game Shenandoah opened the scoring with 8:50 remaining in the first quarter to claim a 1-0 lead. The Hornets added three more goals before the end of the first quarter to carry a 4-0 lead into the second period of play.

In the second quarter, Shenandoah scored the first three goals of the period to extend its lead to 7-0. With 10:31 to play in the opening half, Immaculata scored its first goal of the game as Steven Long broke through to make the score 7-1. Moments later, Sean Evans scored of an assist from Anthony Inserra to cut the lead to 7-2. Shenandoah responded quickly with a goal of its own with 8:04 to play, which extended the lead to 8-2 before Inserra added a goal of his own with 6:48 remaining in the first half to make the score 8-3. Shenandoah scored its final goal of the half with 5:25 to play to extend the lead to 9-3.

With 11:04 to play in the third quarter, Long struck for his second goal of the game off  an assist from Inserra to trim the deficit to 9-4. Shenandoah responded with two more goals of its own in the final six minutes of the third quarter, which made the score 11-4 heading to the fourth quarter.

In the first four minutes of the final quarter, Shenandoah scored a pair of goals to stretch its lead to 13-4, which prompted an Immaculata timeout. Out of the timeout, Shenandoah scored three more goals to stretch its lead to 16-4 before David Azzarano scored his first goal of the season with 2:08 to play in regulation to make the score 16-5 late in the fourth.

Inserra ended his afternoon with one goal and a pair of assists for a team-high three points while Long scored a pair of goals to lead the Macs in that category.

Senior Bobby Bausman turned in a solid effort for the Mighty Macs coming away with four caused turnovers, and 13 ground balls while also going 7-of-13 on faceoffs. Bausman's 13 ground ball performance not only sets a new career-high for the senior but also moves him into a tie for third in single-game ground balls with Tyler Black who registered 13 in the Macs 2017 game vs Wilkes. This performance also allowed Bausman to eclipse the 200-ground ball milestone for his career, making him the first Mighty Mac to accomplish this feat.

Cole Metzger made his debut between the pipes for Immaculata making 26 saves, which places him into a tie for second most in a single game in team with Andrew Sim as he recorded a pair of 26-save efforts vs Cabrini.

As a team, Immaculata was narrowly edged in the ground ball category as the Macs registered 29 ground balls while Shenandoah collected 30 in the victory.

Immaculata will return to action at home next Saturday afternoon vs Wesley with that contest set to begin at 4 p.m.