LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine Knights continue their Southern Conference schedule on Saturday with a road trip to Jacksonville, Florida to face the Dolphins at noon at D.B. Milne Field.
Jacksonville comes in 3-4 on the season with a 1-0 mark in SoCon play after knocking off Mercer 16-8 last week.
The Dolphins have been well-tested on the season with all four of their losses coming at the hands of teams ranked in the top 20 at the time of the game (Duke, Marquette, Ohio State and Vermont).
Bellarmine and Jacksonville share two common opponents this year—Marquette and Detroit Mercy. Interestingly, the Knights defeated Marquette and lost to UDM while Jacksonville did the opposite, falling to the Golden Eagles (10-11) and beating the Titans (15-8).
The Knights enter this weekend 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the SoCon after falling to High Point last week.
Brian Wall, who ranks second in the SoCon in points per game with a 3.33 average, leads the Knights' offense. The senior from Penfield, New York has scored in 18 straight games and has recorded five hat tricks during that streak.
Other top offensive contributors for Bellarmine include Morgan Macko with 17 points (9G, 8A) while a pair of freshmen—Luke Legnard and Landon Trout—rank third and fourth on the team with 12 and 10 points respectively.
In goal, freshman John Hulsman has turned in three solid outings for the Knights and has emerged as the SoCon leader in save percentage (57.3%) and saves per game (14.33). With his 17 saves last week, Hulsman moved into BU's top 10 with 43 career saves. Fellow freshman Michael Autry also appears among the SoCon leaders, ranking third in faceoff percentage at 55.3 percent.
On Saturday, Autry will face a strong test by going head-to-head with Jacksonville's Hunter Forbes, who leads the league with a 69.3 win percentage.
Offensively, Jacksonville's Eric Applegate leads his squad in scoring with 15 goals and eight assists and ranks third in the conference in points per game at 3.29. The Dolphins also are getting solid production from McLean Chicquen (10 G, 9 A), Jeremy Winston (12G, 4 A) and Dwayne Mattushik (12 G, 2A).
Between the pipes, Hunter Sells has logged all but 42 minute for the Dolphins. He has compiled a 3-3 record while giving up 10.07 goals per game and making 53 saves.
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