LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine lacrosse team returns home on Saturday for an ASUN Conference game against the University of Detroit Mercy at noon in Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.
 
While this will be the 13th meeting between the Knights and Titans, Saturday's game marks the first time they'll meet as conference foes. Bellarmine won seven of the first eight meetings, but Detroit Mercy has won the last four.
 
This year, the Titans come in 1-7 overall and 0-2 in league play.  In their nonconference schedule, Detroit Mercy and Bellarmine played similar opponents with each team falling to Michigan, Marquette and High Point while defeating VMI. 
 
Brett Erskine leads the Titan offense with 16 goals while adding four assists on the year.  Luke Majick has added 11 points for Detroit Mercy, and the duo of Erskine and Majick are the only players in double digit points for the Titans, who are averaging just 6.75 goals per game.
 
Paul Manuszak is the Detroit Mercy leader in caused turnovers with the LSM notching 16 in his eight appearances.  In goal, Jakob Hemme has seen the majority of playing time and is the team leader in saves with 99.
 
For Bellarmine, Kyle Playsted is the offensive leader and comes into Saturday's game ranked third in the ASUN in points with 45 while leading the league in assists with 25.   Those 25 assists match Chase Williams' Bellarmine record for most in a season. 
 
The Knights' leading goal-scorer also is Playsted, but Brayden Brown leads the team in goals per game with 19 in just seven appearances. Four Knights have 20 or more points this season with Christian Della Rocco and Jesse Roth joining Playsted and Brown in that category.
 
On defense, Jon Robbins is just two caused turnovers shy of tying his own school record of 35 and ranks sixth in the nation for CTs per game at 2.54.  Freshman Brady Long also has strong caused turnovers numbers with 21 on the season. 
 
JC Higginbotham patrols the crease for the Knights and is among the league leaders in goals-against average (12.74) and total saves (106).
 
At the faceoff dot, both teams have struggled.  Bellarmine has won just under 42 percent of its draws, and Detroit Mercy is just 85 of 210 for 40.5 percent.
 
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