LOUISVILLE, Ky.—After a highly competitive 11-game nonconference schedule, the Bellarmine lacrosse team moves in exclusively ASUN Conference play for the remainder of the regular season beginning with a noon game on Saturday when the Knights host Cleveland State University at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.
 
The Knights and Vikings have met five previous times (CSU leads 3-2), but all were non-conference affairs as CSU joins a lacrosse conference for the first time since the program's founding in 2017.
 
Last season BU tangled twice with the Vikings at Frazier Stadium, but the games had very different outcomes. In the March 13 affair, the Cleveland State stymied the Bellarmine offense to take an 8-1 victory, but in the rematch on April 17, the Knights rolled to an 11-4 victory.
 
This year, the Vikings were 3-5 in nonconference action, playing many of the same teams the Knights faced in their opening 11 games.  Both BU and CSU defeated VMI and Hampton and lost to Mercer, Michigan, and St. Bonaventure.  However, the Vikings came away with a 12-10 victory over a Canisius team that defeated Bellarmine 13-11.
 
In their most recent action, the Knights went toe-to-toe with No. 8 North Carolina, holding an 8-7 lead after three quarters before the Tar Heels zoomed past the Knights with an 8-0 fourth quarter to take a 15-7 victory.  The Vikings, meanwhile, are coming off their best offensive game of the year defeating VMI 22-10 last week.
 
Bellarmine enters the ASUN portion of its season being led by Kyle Playsted on the offensive end.  The sophomore attack leads the league in assists with 18 and is third in points with 34.  Also ranking in the ASUN's top 10 for offensive production is Christian Della Rocco, who is eighth in the league with 22 points (14G, 8A). 
 
Defensively, the Knights continue to be led by Jon Robbins, who was the preseason ASUN Defensive Player of the Year. The graduate student from Texas has not disappointed this season and leads the nation in caused turnovers per game (3.2) while also being the team leader in in ground balls with 39.  In goal, JC Higginbotham is coming off a season-high 16 saves at North Carolina, and he is ranked third in the league with 90 saves.
 
For Cleveland State, Jason Sullivan leads the way on the offensive end, coming in with nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points.  The Vikings leading goal-scorer is Ryan Haigh with 21 in his first eight games.
 
Viking goalie Cameron Logan comes into Saturday's game leading the ASUN in goals-against average at 11.49 and is second in save percentage at 53.1 percent. 
 
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