LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Bellarmine Knights fell to the Cleveland State Vikings 8-1 on Saturday afternoon at home.

Dylan Warner got the Vikings on the board first before Christian Della Rocco followed just over a minute later with a goal in transition off a Kyle Playsted feed for the Knights. It would be their only goal of the contest. Cleveland State found the back of the net two more times in the first and once in the second to take a 4-1 halftime lead.

Cleveland State really stated to pull away in the second half, scoring three times in the third and once in the fourth to seal the deal. Bellarmine had 10 of their 14 turnovers in the final two quarters alone and only converted eight of their 12 clear attempts in the half, ending the game going 19-for-26 in the clearing game overall. Cleveland State was perfect in the clearing game in the second half and nearly perfect for the game, going 21-for-22.

"We had a bad riding and clearing game today and that's something that I am disappointed in," Bellarmine coach Andy Whitley said. "Riding and clearing has been a strength of ours and is something that we practice a lot, but we were just bad at it today and something I think that ultimately cost us a few goals late in the game."

The Knights did hold an advantage in the ground ball game (22-16) and outshot Cleveland State 39 to 30. However, Bellarmine only put 18 of their shots on goal while the Vikings put 24 of their shots on goal.

"We ran into a hot goalie," Whitley said. "I don't think it's the type of shot that we took but the shot execution that we didn't do very well today."

JC Higginbotham made 16 saves in cage while Jon Robbins had two ground balls and two caused turnovers for the Knights.

Cleveland State goalie Kevin Sobey made 17 saves to anchor the Vikings' defense while Chase Baker led the Vikings' offense with a hat trick. Evan Moskwa went 8-for-12 (66%) at the faceoff dot.

Bellarmine will be back in action next Saturday at home as they open SoCon play against the Richmond Spiders at noon.