GRANTHAM, Pa. – The top-ranked Gettysburg College women's lacrosse team turned in a 10-goal run spanning the first and second periods to take down No. 13 Messiah College 15-3 in its season opener Wednesday afternoon.
 
Gettysburg (1-0) never trailed, posting the first three goals of the game and then running off 10 more over 25 minutes before Messiah (0-1) was able to answer. Junior Steph Colson (Westminster, Md./Manchester Valley) paved the way with four goals to go with three ground balls, three draw controls, and two caused turnovers.
 
Freshman Kerry McKeever (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) tallied the season's first goal of the year and finished with two goals and two assists. Senior Katie Willis (Baltimore, Md./Notre Dame Prep) turned in two goals, while classmate Katie Landry (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) posted a goal and three assists.
 
Messiah nearly took Gettysburg down in the season opener last season, falling in overtime 7-6. The Bullets took no chances on Wednesday as McKeever tallied her first collegiate goal 1:46 into the contest. Sophomore Liza Barr (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) and Landry tossed in goals to make it 3-0 with 24:34 left in the first half.
 
Annika Johnsen scored for the Falcons at 22:18, but Gettysburg went on the attack again as sophomore Maria Nemeth (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) scored on a feed from Landry to kick off the big run. Seven different players scored during the surge with Colson hitting the net three times. The junior's back-to-back goals at the start of the second half made it 13-1 with 23:50 remaining.
 
In all, 10 different Bullets found the scoring column. Gettysburg led in shots (28-17), ground balls (20-16), and draw controls (11-9).
 
Senior Ali Gorab (Southport, Conn./Ludlowe) picked up four ground balls, while junior Brooke Holechek (Reisterstown, Md./Notre Dame Prep) caused two turnovers. Junior Bailey Pilder (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and sophomore Casey Cole (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) split time in goal with the former posting a pair of stops in the first half and the latter tallying four saves in the final period.
 
Gettysburg won its season opener for the 18th consecutive season. The 12-goal margin was also the team's biggest over Messiah since 2008 (19-4).
 
The Bullets make their home debut against Stevenson University this Saturday at 1 p.m.