Mercer scored six goals over the game's first 13:45, but the Lehigh men's lacrosse team held the Bears to just two over the remaining 46:15, on its way to a 13-8 win on Saturday. The Mountain Hawks (2-0) used a 6-0 run to turn a 6-3 deficit into a 9-6 second-quarter lead and extended the lead even further in the second half. Junior Andrew Pettit led Lehigh's offense with three goals, his second straight hat trick to begin the season. "We had a nice start with a quick transition goal, but then Mercer jumped all over us," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "They scored the next four and put up six in the first quarter and seven at the half. The good news was we held them to one in the second half and our defense really stepped up and answered the call." Along with Pettit's three goals, sophomore Austin Pierce scored a career-high two goals, both on the extra man, while senior John Mehok scored twice and posted three points as well to tie a career high. Juniors Tristan Rai and Lucas Spence each had three points via a goal and two assists. Offensively, a bunch of guys chipped in and we played good team ball," said Cassese. "I was really proud of our man-up unit who was 4-of-5. It was a really physical game. I thought our man-down defense stepped up when they needed to as well." Defensively, junior Craig Chick had two groundballs and four caused turnovers while freshman long-stick midfielder Teddy Leggett tallied five groundballs and two caused turnovers to up his season total to nine groundballs and four caused turnovers through two games. "Teddy was amazing today," said Cassese. "He was huge on the faceoff wings and he was excellent on man down. He was great in between the lines. He's an absolute warrior." Mercer used an early 4-0 run, which extended to 6-2, to take a late 6-3 first-quarter advantage. Lehigh responded by scoring twice in the final 34 seconds of the first quarter, as Spence and junior Mickey Fitzpatrick pulled Lehigh within 6-5 after 15 minutes of play. The Mountain Hawks carried the momentum into the second quarter as Pettit, Pierce, sophomore Parker Kent and Mehok scored to give Lehigh a 9-6 advantage late in the stanza, on its way to a 9-7 halftime advantage. Both defenses stood tall in the second half with just five combined goals, four from Lehigh. Pierce scored his second extra-man goal midway through the third quarter, Mercer responded early in the fourth, but Lehigh ended the game with three unanswered goals, including the first of the season from sophomore Ryan Klose, to wrap up Lehigh's second straight 13-8 win to begin the season (after also defeating NJIT 13-8 last Saturday). "Early on, Mercer was scoring in transition, in unsettled opportunities and off the faceoff, so we made it a point of emphasis to take that away and force them to play more settled offense," said Cassese. "Once we did that, we were able to box them up a little bit." For the game, Lehigh held a 42-29 edge in shots while Mercer held a 25-19 edge in groundballs. Freshman goalie James Spence made 10 saves across Mercer's Bradley Hodoval, who tallied nine. Sophomore Conor Gaffney was strong in the faceoff circle, winning 14-of-23 draws with four groundballs. "I thought Conor was huge," said Cassese. "He drew three violations. His first-half dominance in particular was really key for us to get the offense going." The Mountain Hawks are now set to head south again next weekend when it plays at North Carolina on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 12 p.m. Like Lehigh men's lacrosse on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for continued updates on the Mountain Hawks.