LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Bellarmine Knights fell to the Utah Utes 12-7 in their 2021 home opener at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Knights opened up the scoring in style with a Brayden Brown behind-the-back goal just under a minute into the contest. Utah answered strong with a nearly one minute three-goal run to get ahead 3-1.
Landon Trout ended the Knights' cold streak late in the first to end the quarter and did the same in the second to end the half. However, Jordan Hyde and Ramsey McCreary each found the back of the net early in the second to push Utah's lead to 5-3 heading into the half.
On the offensive struggles in the first half, Coach Whitley said, "We struggled to win our matchups at the beginning…I think we probably need to get more transition opportunities, and we are just going to have to work on that. I may have been too conservative trying to keep it in the half field."
After a slow third quarter in which Utah and Bellarmine each found the back of the net once, the Knights garnered some energy early in the fourth, getting back to back man-up goals from Luke Legnard and James Whiteford within a 25-second span to tie the game at 6.
A penalty on Eric Rubak at the 12:00 mark in the fourth led to a Jordan Hyde goal for Utah on the man-up situation. That goal provided the spark for a 6-1 Utah run in the final 11:37 of the game to secure the 12-7 victory for the Utes. Their final two goals came within the final 45 seconds of the game.
"We expended a ton of energy coming back and we got to 6-6 and just couldn't get a stop," Whitley said. "The penalty at 6-6 really killed us and it was just too much. I feel like if we would have gotten the lead we could have gotten over the hump, but they played really disciplined offense and made some shots at the end, and we ran out of gas."
The Knights' close defense unit had another solid outing. Bellarmine ended the game with 10 caused turnovers to Utah's six. Jon Robbins led the way on that end with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Eric Rubak also had three ground balls and one caused turnover.
In cage, Ian Reilly got the start but was replaced in the second quarter by JC Higginbotham, who ended the day with nine saves and posted a .563% save percentage.
"We have a good defense," Whitley said. "We have a very experienced group with a couple of good goals. Eric Rubak and Jon Robbins I think are elite and Brendan Fennell is a little bit of an under appreciated defenseman. Chase Fairbanks stepped into the fray down low and we moved Eric (Rubak) up a little bit and he played well."
Landon Trout led the Knights offense with two goals. Kyle Playsted, Brayden Brown, and James Whiteford each had one goals and one assist in the contest.
Utah won the matchup at the faceoff dot with Cole Brams going 15-for-22 on the day. Jordan Hyde scored four goals to lead the Utes' offense. Tyler Bradbury also had three goals and one assist.
Bellarmine (1-1) will be back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Jacksonville for a midweek contest.
