MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa.—It's been a historic season for the Bellarmine lacrosse team, and in today's ASUN Championship quarterfinals, the Knights made more history with a 14-13 victory over Mercer at Joe Walton Stadium on the campus of Robert Morris University.
 
The win, which was preserved with a clutch save by goalie JC Higginbotham with less than 10 seconds remaining, marked the first postseason win in program history as Bellarmine improved to 11-5 on the season to extend the school record for most wins in a season.
 
The game was an uphill battle for the Knights, who trailed the majority of the game.  In fact, BU found itself down 9-6 with five minutes to go in the second quarter but rallied with a 3-0 run to close the period and knot the score at nine apiece at the break. 
 
The Knights scored first in the third period then traded goals with Mercer before the Bears scored twice in the final minute of the quarter to take a 12-11 lead into the final stanza.
 
Bellarmine's defense stiffened in the final 15 minutes, holding the Bears to just one fourth quarter goal. The Knights took the lead for good on a John Alie goal with 8:30 remaining in the game, and 93 seconds later, Benny O'Rourk's second goal of the game provided the Knights a little breathing room with a 14-12 advantage. Bellarmine then slowed things down and held off the Bears for the 14-13 win.    
 
"That was classic playoff lacrosse," said Bellarmine Coach Andrew Whitley. "Two teams who were extremely familiar with each other just battling for 60 minutes. At the end of the day, playoff lacrosse comes down to who executes in the half field better at crunch time in these types of games, and we made a couple of extra plays over the course of the game to eke out the win. Our defense made some critical stops to put the game away."
 
Offensively, O'Rourk was the Bellarmine leader with a five point game on two goals and three assists.  The unsung hero of the game was faceoff specialist Grant Guthrie.  The freshman from Folsom, California went toe-to-toe with ASUN faceoff leader Ashton Wood and managed to go 14-for-29 on the day, giving the Knights more possessions than was expected.  
 
"Grant Guthrie probably had the best sub 50% day of any faceoff guy I've coached," Whitley said. "Ashton Wood is a PLL talent, and the fact that the faceoff X was effectively a tossup is a credit to Grant. He competed and battled and allowed us to weather a couple of Mercers runs by winning key possessions and then string a couple of possessions together ourselves."

Whitley also lauded his bench.  "Our role players continue to produce in critical spots," he said. "Lukas Sinon, John Alie, Pat Anderson Jesse Roth and Brennan McDermott all scored critical goals in key moments. Our attack continues to be the focal point of our offense but the timely contributions from our role players was essential for pulling this one out.  Lukas in particular battled through injury and just made key veteran type plays."
 
On the defensive end, Higginbotham notched 12 saves while Berggren recorded four caused turnovers and four ground balls.  Midfielder Denton Macdonald also came up big with five ground balls and a CT. In picking up the win, Higginbotham tied the program record held by Dillon Ward for most career wins with 19.
 
"JC Higginbotham came up big down at crunch time after starting a little slow out of the gate," Whitley said. "He made some critical second half stops to help secure the win for us. He's such a competitor and his ability to grind in the second half and make plays in critical moments was a key component today."
 
Bellarmine now advances to the ASUN semifinals where the Knights will meet the No. 1-seeded Utah Utes on Friday at 1 p.m. in Joe Walton Stadium.
 
The Utes went undefeated in ASUN play this season, going 9-0 while compiling an overall record of 10-4.  Utah took down the Knights 15-8 in their regular season meeting.  Friday's matchup will be rematch of last year's ASUN semifinal that saw the Utes escape with a 12-11 overtime victory in a game that was also played on May 5.
 
"We have a tall task ahead of us in Utah, but our guys are looking forward to the challenge," Whitley said of BU's next game. "We need to get some rest and start preparations tomorrow as they are the giant in our league right now.  We'll enjoy this victory tonight. The guys certainly earned this one."

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