LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The fate of the Bellarmine University lacrosse team will be decided on Saturday in the team's regular-season finale at High Point (N.C.) in Southern Conference play.

The Knights are gunning for a spot in the league's four-team postseason tournament. Bellarmine (4-7, 2-3 SoCon) is currently tied for fourth place with Furman (3-8, 2-3), while High Point (7-6, 3-2) is in third place and Jacksonville (4-7, 1-4) is in fifth. Richmond and Mercer are both 5-0 in conference action and have secured placements in the postseason tournament.

Bellarmine will meet High Point starting at 1 p.m. (ET) on Saturday in Vert Stadium.

There are various scenarios that will decide a Bellarmine berth in the Southern Conference Tournament. The most cut and dried are a Knights win over High Point and Furman loss to Jacksonville would clinch a bid for BU, while flipping the situation — a Bellarmine loss and a Furman win — eliminates the Knights.

In welcoming Bellarmine, High Point is concluding its regular season with its fifth-straight league game. In that span, the Panthers toppled Furman (10-3 final score), Jacksonville (9-6) and, most recently, VMI (18-5) but fell to Richmond 20-9 two weeks ago. In its conference opener, on March 14, High Point was edged 12-11 in overtime by Mercer.

High Point ranks second in the conference in goals per game (11.54). The Panthers possess a dangerous scoring duo in junior attacks Dan Lomas (32 goals) and Matt Thistle (25 goals), who are second and third, respectively, in the conference in goals per game behind only Bellarmine sophomore attack Austin Shanks (30 goals, 2.73 per game). Thistle has also racked up 16 assists, making him the conference leader in points per game (3.73). Sophomore attack Michael LeClair tops the SoCon charts in assists with 22.

Another area where High Point excels is in face-offs. The Panthers lead the SoCon by winning 56.8 percent of them. Junior Jamie Piluso leads the way with a 57.1 face-off percentage and ranks first in the conference in ground balls per game (6.31).

Bellarmine is coming off an 11-6 loss to Richmond in which it led 6-4 at halftime but couldn't locate the net in the second half. Knights freshman goalkeeper Drew Goethals collected a season-high 16 saves in the game.

In addition to Shanks, sophomore attack Jack Perkins has posted 14 goals while sophomore attack Tucker Ciessau and senior attack Dylan Gatt have chipped in 13 apiece. Shanks also leads BU in assists with nine, and Ciessau has totaled eight. Senior defender Colin Hart has registered 35 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers.

Bellarmine (4-7, 2-3 SoCon) at High Point (7-6, 3-2 SoCon)
Date: Saturday, April 25
Opening face-off: 1 p.m. (ET)
Location: Vert Stadium
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