Newark, Del. (Mar. 8, 2014) --- The Delaware State University women's lacrosse team scored first and held a lead for the first time in its history, but it was not enough in a 16-13 loss to Wilmington (Del.) this afternoon.
The Hornets opened the scoring when Megan Card notched her fifth goal of the season one-minute-and-seven seconds into the contest. It marked the first time that DSU held a lead in the 16-game history of the program.
It took the Hornets just 24 seconds to add to the lead.
Delaware State opened up a 2-0 advantage when Brionna Watkins scored her first career goal off a feed from Emily Etkins with 28:29 left in the first period.
The Hornets took a 3-0 lead when Kayla Yurkanin scored for the first time in her career on a free position shot with 26:02 remaining in opening period.
Wilmington got on the board for the first time on an unassisted goal by Katie Spence at the 24:23 mark of the first period to cut the Hornets' lead to 3-1.
The Wildcats tallied the next three scores to take the lead. Megan Keffer scored the second of her five goals in the game to give Wilmington a 4-3 lead with 16:39 left in the first.
The Hornets tied the game at 4-4 when Etkins scored the first of her four goals in the contest on a free position shot.
Wilmington answered with a three-goal run, including Keffer's third and fourth of the game, to open up a 7-4 lead.
Emily Peets broke the Wilmington run with a goal at the 9:36 mark of the opening frame to pull the Hornets to within 7-5.
The Wildcats scored the last three goals of the period to open up a 10-5 lead at the break.
Delaware State dominated the opening minutes of the second period, scoring four straight goals to pull to within one.
Peets and Watkins scored for the second time in the game, and Kiyanna Brown tallied back-to-back goals during the DSU rally. Brown's second goal cut the Wildcats' lead to 10-9 with 22:05 remaining in the second period.
Wilmington responded by scoring the next four goals to open up a 14-9 lead.
The Hornets answered with four straight goals of their own to again pull to within one.
Watkins scored her third goal of the game and Etkins tallied three consecutive goals to cut the Wildcats' lead to 14-13. Etkins' third goal of the rally at the 3:52 mark of the second period was her fourth of the contest and team-best 12th of the season. She also leads the Hornets with 13 points this year.
Wilmington closed out the scoring with two goals in the final 2:53 of the game.
Delaware State had 30 shots in the contest, the second highest total in team history. Also, the Hornets collected a school-record 30 ground balls in the game, including a team-high six by Kiana Dawson.
Five games into her collegiate career, Etkins has surpassed the team's single-season marks for goals and points. The previous record for goals was eight by Peets and Brown during the team's inaugural season in 2013. Brown also shared the previous record for points (10) with Sierra Harris last year.
Delaware State fell to 0-5 this season, while Wilmington improved to 2-1.
The Hornets return to action on Tues. (Mar. 11) at Detroit. The next DSU home game is Mar. 15 vs. Manhattan. Game time is 1:00 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.
