LOUISVILLE, Ky.—The Bellarmine lacrosse team plays its final regular season road game on Saturday when the Knights travel to Michigan to take on University of Detroit-Mercy at noon at Titan Field.
 
The ASUN Conference contest will have postseason implications as the Knights could secure a spot in the six-team tourney with a win (coupled with a Cleveland State loss) while the Titans would be mathematically eliminated from postseason consideration with another dropped contest.   
 
Bellarmine enters the weekend 9-4 overall with a 4-3 mark in league play while Detroit is 2-9 and 2-5 in the ASUN.   The Knights and Titans have battled 12 times in program history with each team owning six wins.  The most recent meeting was a 13-8 win for BU last April 16 in Louisville.
 
The Knights' offense is having a banner year with record-setting performances both by individuals and by the team as a whole.  Attackman Kyle Playsted entered the week ranked No. 1 in the nation in points as he has already set new program records for assists (35) and points (68) in a season. Fellow attackman Christian Della Rocco, meanwhile, just set the new Bellarmine record for goals in a season and comes into Saturday's game with 36.  The third member of the starting "A-line," Benny O'Rourk, also is putting up big numbers this year with 33 goals and 14 assists. He also owns the nation's ninth-longest streak for consecutive games with a goal at 20 games, dating back to last year's contest at North Carolina.
 
As a team, the Knights set a new mark for most goals in a game when they dropped 24 on Queens, and with two regular season games remaining, they stand on the precipice of setting new season records for wins, points, goals and assists.
 
On the defensive end, the Knights can boast two different goalies who have won ASUN Defensive Player of the Week honors in JC Higginbotham and Dante Batista.  Meanwhile, Jacob Berggren leads the ASUN in ground balls by a non-faceoff specialist with 48 and is among the league leaders in caused turnovers with 14.  Denton Macdonald, a short stick midfielder, is having a big impact on both ends of the field and ranks second on the team (and among the top 20 in the ASUN) with 12 caused turnovers.  He also has 35 ground balls to go along with 10 goals and four assists on the offensive end.
 
At the dot, freshman Grant Guthrie is coming off his best effort as a collegian, going 15-for-21 in faceoffs at Cleveland State on Sunday.  On the year, he's the BU leader with 75 faceoff wins, and he's second on the team with 43 ground balls.
 
The Titans' top offensive threat is freshman Drew Kessenich, who leads the team in points (28) with 18 goals and 10 assists.  Right on his heels in the team points race is Luke Majick with 16 goals and 10 assists while Ryan Birney is the Titans' top goal scorer with 21.
 
On defense, short stick midfielder David Beacom paces Detroit Mercy with 12 caused turnovers with LSM Noah Martin second on the team with 10.  Between the pipes, Jakob Hemme is the primary Titan goalie, and he co-leads the ASUN in saves with 138 on the season.
 
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