Box Score MILTON, Ga. — The Bellarmine University lacrosse team ended its season on a high note, and the same could be said of the career of senior Chad Mitchell.

On Saturday at Milton High School Stadium in Georgia, Mitchell piled up a career-high six points to lead the Knights to a 13-6 victory over Mercer in Bellarmine's season finale. BU concludes the season at 7-5, the Knights' best mark since going 9-6 in 2010. Bellarmine Coach Kevin Burns has now led the Knights to consecutive non-losing seasons as the team went 7-7 in 2013.

While Bellarmine struggled this season in Eastern College Athletic Conference play, the Knights were nearly unstoppable against non-conference competition, compiling a 7-1 record with the lone loss being to No. 8 Virginia. BU rebounded from that loss with the win over the Bears (7-6) to close the season with three victories in its last four games. All of the Knights' wins with the exception of a 10-9 overtime thriller over High Point were by three goals or more.

Mitchell was a big reason for the romp over Mercer, which won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season championship. His six points consisted of an even split between goals and assists. He scored the go-ahead goal with 7:17 left in the first quarter, and Bellarmine never trailed again. The Knights were steady, building a 5-1 lead in the second quarter and 8-4 advantage at halftime before shutting out the Bears in the third quarter and increasing their cushion to 11-4 before cruising in the fourth quarter to a victory that clinched a winning season.

Senior attack Cameron Gardner also had a memorable career finale for Bellarmine, racking up four goals. Freshman attack Austin Shanks added three goals and two assists, while freshman attack Tucker Ciessau chipped in two assists and one goal. Junior midfielder Ryan Scinta tallied two goals, and junior midfielder Daniel Zamora had two assists.

Defensively, senior keeper Will Haas accumulated 15 saves for the Knights. It was the eighth time this season Bellarmine's defense limited the opposition to less than 10 goals. Mercer scored just one goal combined in the first and third quarters, giving BU the chance to build an insurmountable lead. The Knights entered with the 16th stingiest defense in the nation.

The Bears took their first and only lead when Chris Baxa scored at the 11:26 mark of the first quarter. From there, it was all Bellarmine. Gardner tied it up two minutes later, and Ciessau found Mitchell two minutes after that for the go-ahead score.

Gardner closed the scoring in the first quarter with an unassisted goal, and Shanks delivered consecutive scores in the second period as BU built a 5-1 lead. After a Bears goal, Mitchell scored a pair and later, after two Mercer goals, Scinta put the Knights up 8-4 at the intermission.

Bellarmine owned the third quarter. Shanks, Gardner and Ciessau each found the net off two assists from Mitchell and another from Shanks and Mercer never answered as the Knights' lead swelled to 11-4.  Zamora then fed Scinta and Gardner for goals in the fourth quarter as the rout continued.

Bellarmine's success offensively this season could be seen in the Knights' balanced numbers. With his six-point surge, Mitchell finished the year leading Bellarmine in points with 32, just ahead of Ciessau's 31. Ciessau netted a team-best 24 goals, while Mitchell registered a team-high 14 assists. Shanks tallied 22 goals and 29 points, Gardner added 25 points and Scinta chipped in 23.

Bellarmine defeated Mercer for the fourth straight year, and each victory was lopsided. The Knights followed a 20-6 victory in 2011 with a 13-5 romp in 2012 and a 12-5 rout last season.