LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine lacrosse team dropped a back-forth affair to the visiting Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium by the final count of 13-11.
 
The game featured four lead changes with Patrick Mitchell's man up goal with 6:24 in the fourth quarter breaking an 11-11 tie and proving to the eventual game winner for Canisius.
 
The Golden Griffins added an insurance goal at the 4:29 mark, and after a shot by Bellarmine's Tayo Oladunmoye was swallowed up Canisius goalie Matt Vavonese with 2:07 remaining, the visitors were able to successfully kill the rest of game clock for the victory.
 
Bellarmine twice owned two-goal leads in the first half, but the Golden Griffins closed the second quarter with a 4-0 run to take a 7-5 lead into halftime.
 
After the break, Bellarmine clawed back to tie it 7-7 on goals by freshmen Justin Wescoat and Benjamin Hubbs.  Canisius broke the tie on one of Colin Kelly's four goals, but Wescoat answered for the Knights.  Bellarmine claimed the lead at 9-8 when Hubbs notched a man-down goal a the 5:30 mark of the third period.
 
The Bellarmine lead was brief, however, as Mitchell evened the score just 30 seconds later for Canisius. The Golden Griffins tacked on another score at the 3:10 mark and held a 10-9 edge heading to the final period.
 
Bellarmine's Jesse Roth struck first in the fourth quarter to draw the Knights even, but Kelly responded as Canisius pulled ahead 11-10. The game's final tie score came at 11-11 when Roth squared the game with his fifth goal of the season ahead of Mitchell's eventual gamewinner.  
 
Final statistics confirm what fans saw on the field—a close, competitive match. Bellarmine actually owned a 36-34 shot advantage with both teams putting 21 of those attempts on target. Ground balls also were even at 23 apiece. The Knights held a slight edge in the turnover battle (19-16), but Canisus outdueled Bellarmine 17-11 in faceoffs.  Neither team took great advantage of extra man situations, with the Knights going 0-4 and the Griffins cashing in just once in four opportunities.
 
Roth paced the Bellarmine offense with three goals and an assist for four points while Wescoat recorded his first collegiate hat trick with three goals.  Other goal scorers for the Knights included Denton Macdonald, Hubbs (2), Jon Robbins, and Benny O'Rourk.
 
Canisius (1-1) was led by Kelly with four goals and an assist while Nathan Conry (1G, 3A) and Jacob Buck (2G, 2A) had four points apiece.
 
The Knights fall to 0-4 on the season but a get a relatively quick chance to earn their first win as they play again on Tuesday with a road trip to Olean, New York to take on St. Bonaventure.
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