Macon, Ga. (Feb. 20, 2015) --- The Delaware State University women's lacrosse team started slowly and never recovered for the second straight game, falling the Mercer (Ga.) 16-4 this afternoon.
The contest was the first of the season for the Bears, while Hornets fell to 0-2.
Mercer scored six goals in the first 10 minutes and never looked back.
Lindsey Zeltwanger had four goals and an assist, while Kate Christian came off the bench to score three times to lead the Bears. Three others scored two goals each for Mercer, which outshot the Hornets 36-16 in the contest.
Emily Etkins (so.) had two goals for the Hornets, her second and third of the season. She raised her school-record total to 23 goals in 12 games at DSU.
The Hornets got off to a good start in the second half after trailing 11-0 at the break.
Sierra Harris (sr.) scored DSU's first goal of the game on a free position shot two-minutes-and-15 seconds into the second half. It was her first goal of the season and 11th in her career.
Less than three minutes later, Etkins scored her second goal of the season on an unassisted shot to cut the Bears' lead to 11-2 at the 24:51 mark of the second half.
Mercer answered with four unanswered goals over the next 10 minutes to stretch its lead to 15-2.
The Hornets broke the run when Etkins scored her second goal of the game off a feed from Kayla Yurkanin (so.) with 6:34 left to play.
DSU scored back-to-back goals for the second time in the contest when Kimberly Jivers (sr.) found the net for the second time in her career on a free position shot to cut Mercer's lead to 15-4 at the 3:04 mark of the second half.
The Hornets will wrap up their three-game season-opening southern swing with a visit to Kennesaw State (Ga.) on Sunday. Game time is 1 p.m.
DSU will play its 2015 home opener on Feb. 28 against Wilmington (Del.) University. The game begins at 11 a.m. at Alumni Stadium.
