LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the Bellarmine men's lacrosse team returns home following three straight road games, they will be taking the field for the second straight week against an opponent who left the ASUN following last season to join the Northeast Conference.
 
"It'll be nice to be back at home on Saturday," said head coach Andrew Whitley. "We've been road warriors the last 10 days and our guys are looking forward to competing in from of a home crowd."
 
The Knights (2-3) will face Detroit Mercy (0-2) at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN+. While the programs have extensive history, having met every season but one since 2009--including the last three as conference mates—the Titans began a new era this season after naming former defensive coordinator Charlie Hayes their new head coach.
 
"Detroit is another Midwest foe we are very familiar with," Whitley said. "They will have a little bit of a new look this year with their new head coach, but they will still remain true to their identity as Coach Hayes has been a longtime assistant there."
 
Hayes, a 2018 graduate of the Titans program, had been on the UDM staff since 2018 and was an assistant coach from 2021 until his promotion when former head coach Chris Kolon stepped down. The former middie played in 58 games for the Titans, starting 13, before joining the coaching staff. Hayes also plays for the Philadelphia Waterdogs of the PLL, where he is a teammate of Bellarmine Hall of Famer and former keeper Dillon Ward.
 
The Titans opened their season with a pair of challenging road games and dropped each by 10 goals, 14-4 at Ohio State and 16-6 at Marquette. They will not play their home opener until March 15 against Robert Morris, their first NEC game.
 
Two seniors, attack Aidan Bishop and middie/attack Chase Mahabir, and junior defender Kyle Grant were named captains before the season. Bishop entered the season with 50 career points and registered 21 goals and five assists in 2024. Mahabir tallied a career-high 17 goals and 21 points as a junior, though neither Bishop nor Mahabir has scored a goal this season—Bishop does have one assist. The duo did combine for seven goals in their 18-10 win over the Knights on April 20 of last season. Grant leads the defense with seven groundballs and seven caused turnovers. In fact, his 3.5 caused turnovers per game tie him for second nationally.
 
Just three Titans have recorded multiple goals, each with two, through their first two games: freshman attack Zach Gleason, senior middie Caden Loken and redshirt freshman attack/middie Marcus Thundercloud.
 
In the cage for the Titans for the second straight season is senior Ryan Richters. He has started all 15 games for UDM since the beginning of last season, posting a .491 save percentage.
 
"Richters played great against us last year and was critical to them getting a win over us," Whitley said.
 
Bellarmine is 9-6 all-time against UDM, 4-3 at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.
 
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