AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Kyle Playsted tallied a goal and a pair of assists to become Bellarmine's first 200-point producer Saturday afternoon at Falcon Stadium, but the Knights fell to Air Force 11-7.
 
"This was an extremely disappointing performance on our part," said Bellarmine head coach Andrew Whitley. "To Air Force's credit they had a plan to account for our transition and they executed it flawlessly. We were not able to create unsettled chances and Air Force was able to control tempo throughout the game. They starved us of the ball and we did not respond with discipline, which you need to have in these type of games."
 
Air Force (6-4, 5-0 ASUN) won their fifth straight to start Atlantic Sun play while Bellarmine (7-5, 3-2 ASUN) saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. Air Force remains alone at the top of the conference standings while Bellarmine falls into a fourth-place tie with Cleveland State.
 
Playsted notched his first assist of the afternoon from behind the cage on a feed to Benny O'Rourk, who returned after missing the past two games and extended his consecutive game scoring streak to 34. Playsted then added a goal with 2:30 left in the third before assisting John Alie, again from behind the cage, with 12:08 left in the fourth for his 200^th career point.
 
"I am extremely happy for Kyle to be the first Knight to cross the 200-point barrier," said Whitley. "He's been a critical component of our growth as a program and it's a tremendous accomplishment."
 
O'Rourk finished with two goals to give him 99 in his career. With his next score, he will join Playsted as the program's only two 100 goal scorers.
 
Playsted, who scored his 100^th career goal last Saturday, is now just three assists away from becoming the first Knight with 100 career assists.
 
As for the game itself, it was a low-scoring affair that, despite their stout defense, is the type of game the Knights have not faired well in this year.
 
Bellarmine trailed 5-4 at the half before Pat Anderson fired in the equalizer barely half of a minute into the third quarter on an extra-man opportunity. From that point, however, the Falcons put the clamps on the Knights, outscoring them 6-2 en route to the win.
 
"The seven turnovers in the third quarter all occurred after Pat's extra-man opportunity goal tied the game out of halftime and played a huge part in allowing Air Force to stretch the lead and get away from us," said Whitley. "We were in a position where we hadn't played all that well but were very much in the ballgame at 5-5."
 
The Falcons controlled the ball well by winning 13 of 21 faceoffs and pressuring the Knights into 18 turnovers. They also outshot the Knights on goal 25-14. Unlike Bellarmine, Air Force, committed just 10 turnovers, the fewest of any Bellarmine opponent this season.
 
"We preached all week about ball security and to respond with 18 turnovers was extremely disappointing," Whitley said. "We forced the ball into places we don't normally both in the clearing game and on offense. We made multiple panicked decisions that were extremely out of character. I expect a lot better from our guys and we did not respond with the poise that I have grown to expect."
 
Turner Ashby scored a hat trick for the Falcons while Josh Yago handed out three assists.
 
The Knights return to Frazier Stadium Wednesday to face Robert Morris ahead of a Saturday tilt at home with Cleveland State. Opening faceoff for both games will be at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
 
"We have quick turnaround against Robert Morris on Wednesday and we are going to definitely get some things cleaned up during practice this week," Whitley concluded. "At the end of the day the team that executed their game plan better and made the tougher lacrosse plays won the game. That's a really hard thing to have to admit, but we're going to address that and get it corrected starting Monday."
 
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