Macon, Ga. - Stetson dropped its first Atlantic Sun Conference game to Mercer Thursday night in Macon, Georgia. The Hatters (7-3-1, 4-1-0) controlled the run of play for the majority of the game, yet could not overcome an early goal and fell 1-0 to the Bears (7-3-1, 2-2-0).

Mercer's unassisted goal was scored by Joshua Ball on a spin move and a shot to the lower right corner in the 9th minute of the game. For the remainder of the game Stetson battled back looking for an equalizer that never came. The Hatters finished with a 17-9 advantage in shots and led 6-4 in corner kicks. Fredrik Brustad (Oslo, Norway) led the visitors with four shots and two shots on goal.

Goalkeeper Andreas Schnabl (Blaichach, Germany) faced two shots on goal with one getting past his dive. It was the first loss in the past six games for the freshman and his team.

Tonight's game at Mercer was the first of four consecutive road games for the Hatters. Next up for Stetson is a game at A-Sun rival Campbell on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.