JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Bellarmine Knights fell 19-8 on the road against the Jacksonville Dolphins on Wednesday afternoon.

While the Knights' Brayden Brown opened the scoring, Jacksonville was quick to get going. The Dolphins went on a 9-1 run from late in the first through the second to take a commanding 9-2 lead heading into the half. The Dolphins just continued to pour it on, outscoring the Knights 10-6 in the second half to secure the 19-8 victory.

Bellarmine was able to get some juice flowing on offense in the fourth quarter, where they tied Jacksonville 4-4 and put together their only two multi-goal runs of the contest.

"We have the pieces to be very good but we're not consistent yet," Bellarmine Head Coach Andrew Whitley said. "We're a lot closer than this game feels, but college lacrosse is unforgiving and Jacksonville took advantage of a bad day for us."

Jacksonville had the upper hand in nearly every facet of the game. The Dolphins held a 42-20 advantage in ground balls and outshot the Knights 44-22, including 28-12 in shots on goal. However, the biggest advantage was at the faceoff dot, where Jacksonville went 27-for-31.

"We have struggled at the faceoff 'x' all season and I thought we competed early," Whitley said. "Unfortunately if you struggle there you need to kill possessions defensively at a high level which we've done to thus far. Today, however, was not our day, and they converted their second chance possessions at an extremely high level." 

With Ian Reilly, who started in goal the first two contests for the Knights, and JC Higginbotham both unavailable for today's game, Jack Bozik got his first career start. He ended the game with nine saves and a .321% save percentage.

"I think Jack (Bozik) played his tail off today," Coach Whitley said. "He kept in the game particularly early, and I think he'll grow tremendously from the experience."

Again, Eric Rubak and Jon Robbins led the way for the Knights' defense. Rubak recorded three caused turnovers and one ground ball while Robbins had three ground balls and one caused turnover.

James Whiteford and Landon Trout each tallied three points (1G/2A) to lead the Knights' offense.

Jack Dolan led Jacksonville with six points (3G/3A). Brett Reilly added five points (1G/4A) and Matt Stagnitta recorded three points (1G/2A).

In cage, Adam Baker made four saves as the starter for the Dolphins. Nathan Kapp served as Jacksonville's primary faceoff man and went 27-for-31 at the dot.

The Knights will meet the Dolphins again in Jacksonville on April 24th in a SoCon contest. Bellarmine will be back on the road next week to face North Carolina on Tuesday.