MACON, Ga.—After coming agonizingly close several times this season, the Bellarmine University lacrosse team recorded victory number one with a solid 16-13 road victory over Mercer University in a Southern Conference game at Five Star Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
"I'm incredibly proud of the effort from our team today," said Bellarmine Coach
Jim Mitchell, who picked up his first win as Division I head coach. "It was a back and forth game all afternoon, but in the end, we had the discipline and energy to get an important win."
The Knights (1-8, 1-2 SoCon) used a strong second half to turn back the Bears. Facing a one-goal halftime deficit, the Knights reeled off the first four goals of the third period to take a 12-9 lead. Mercer battled back with three straight scores to knot the game at 12 apiece at the 13:18 mark of the fourth quarter.
Bellarmine then answered with its own three-goal run to establish a 15-12 lead with 7:52 remaining.
The Bears then capitalized on an extra man opportunity to close within two at the five-minute mark.
After both teams turned the ball over, Bellarmine goalie
Jordan Dondoyano came up with a save, then picked off a Mercer pass to give the Knights possession with a two-goal lead and just over two minutes remaining.
A Bellarmine shot was blocked, but the Knights retained possession. Following a Mercer timeout, the Bears were flagged for a penalty with 1:26 remaining. The Knights took advantage with
Morgan Macko taking a pass from
Brayden Brown and scoring on an unguarded net to ice the game and extend the lead to 16-13 with 42 seconds remaining.
Although the Bears won the ensuing faceoff, Mercer failed to get a shot on frame as the Knights held on for the victory.
The Bellarmine offense turned in its best performance of the year with 16 goals and a 70.5 shot-on-goal percentage. In the end, it was Bellarmine's shooting accuracy that made the difference as Mercer held a 46-44 shot advantage, but the Knights put five more shots on frame, holding a 31-26 edge in shots on goal.
The remaining team statistics revealed a tight contest. The Bears held slight advantages in saves (15-13), ground balls (28-25), and faceoffs (17-16) while the Knights committed two fewer turnovers (13-15).
Individually, Mercer (1-8, 1-2 SoCon) was led by Sean Goldsmith, who registered a hat trick, and John Tarver, who chipped two goals and two assists.
For Bellarmine,
Ian Miller had a seven-point day with two goals and five assists (new school record for assists in a game). Meanwhile three different players turned in hat tricks. Macko actually tallied four goals while
Luke Legnard and
Stephen Votto netted three each. Other Knights hitting the scoring column included:
Riley Seay (1 G, 2 A),
Landon Trout (1 G, 1 A), Brown (1 G, 2 A), and
Griffin Bowie, who notched first goal of the season.
"We had big time performances from multiple players, and it is good to see hard work pay off," Mitchell said. The SoCon is an exciting league, and we look forward to our next challenge."
The Knights now return home to face Virginia Military Institute on Saturday, April 6 at 1 p.m.
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