LOUISVILLE, Ky. —The Bellarmine Knights fell at home 17-5 to the Richmond Spiders on Saturday afternoon in their Southern Conference opener.

The Knights (2-7, 0-1 SoCon) started strong, winning the first two faceoffs and seeing Luke Legnard and Griffin Bowie put in the first two goals of the contest. However, it didn't take long for Richmond to answer as Luke Grayum and Dalton Young put in two consecutive for the Spiders to tie things up with 6:33 in the first.

Landon Trout bullied his way through the Spiders defense just over a minute later to put Bellarmine back up 3-2 at the end of the first. However, that would be the last lead the Knights would enjoy the remainder of the game.

Richmond (3-3, 2-0 SoCon) bookended the second quarter with three-goal runs to push their lead to 8-4 at the half. They were able to turn their final three-goal in the second quarter into a nine-goal run that lasted through the midway point of the third and really created separation and helped push their lead to 14-5 heading into the fourth.

The Spiders added three more goals in the fourth to get them to 17 and secure the win. Legnard had Bellarmine's lone goal of the second quarter and second half, finding the back of the net late in the second and third quarters.

Richmond held an advantage in the ground ball battle (23-17) and outshot the Knights 39-36. Bellarmine also had 17 turnovers to Richmond's 15.

"Not getting those 50-50 ground balls really hurt us in the second half," Bellarmine Coach Andy Whitley said. "In the first quarter we got to more of the them than they did and that allowed us to carry possession and play good half field offense. After that (first quarter) they got the most meaningful ground balls and made us pay for it."

Legnard led Bellarmine with a hat trick while JC Higginbotham made 12 saves with a .414 save percentage in cage as the starter.

Ryan Lanchbury tallied 12 points (3G/9A) for the Spiders while Richie Connell had nine points (7G/2A). Jack Rusbuldt made six saves with a .545 save percentage as the starter for the Spiders.

Bellarmine returns to action on Saturday when the Knights host Air Force for another SoCon game with a noon start.