JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The Stetson women's soccer team (2-7-0, 0-1-0) opened up Atlantic Sun Conference play on the road Friday night, falling to ETSU (7-2-0, 1-0-0) by a score of 3-1.  The Bucs got out to an early lead, scoring in the sixth minute of play, and the Hatters were never able to recover.

ETSU's Ramey Kerns, who is now just one goal shy of the school's single-season record after putting a pair in the back of the net Friday night, helped get the Bucs out to their quick start.  After Emilee Engelhaupt stole the ball from Stetson near midfield, she played it down the left side of the field to a streaking Morgan Thomas.  Thomas, quick to counter against the Hatters, crossed the ball to Kerns who finished on one touch to put Stetson behind early on.

The Hatters played the Bucs pretty evenly for the rest of the frame, finishing the first half with five shots to ETSU's seven, while each team recorded only a single corner kick.  Still plagued by injury and illness, the young Stetson Hatters battled in the second period, but may have just run out of gas as only 13 players garnered the majority of the minutes.

Kerns' second goal of the contest, a rebound off of her own shot just over 24 minutes into the second half, gave the Bucs a healthy lead, but it was Kristi Davis's breakaway goal in the 81^st minute that all but put this one away.

Not willing to quit, Stetson got on the board with just over five minutes left in regulation as yet another Hatter scored her first career goal.  Freshman Jenna Premo finished off of an assist from sophomore Carmen Bernecker to make it 3-1.

The Bucs ended the game with a 16-9 shot advantage and five corner kicks to Stetson's two.  ETSU's Kara Krajenta made three saves, while junior Victoria Troccoli totaled four in goal for the Hatters.

“They’re a good team, we made some mistakes, and they capitalized on them,” Head Coach Julie Orlowski said.  “We need to do a better job transitioning into our final third and getting behind the defense.  Until we do that, we’re going to continue to frustrate ourselves.”

Stetson will next stay on the road, taking on USC Upstate on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Spartanburg, S.C.  The Spartans fell to FGCU by a score of 2-0 on Friday.