LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine lacrosse team maintained their perfect home record after earning a hard-fought 13-10 win over Robert Morris Saturday afternoon at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium.
 
"This was a gritty effort against a longtime rival," said Bellarmine head coach Andrew Whitley. "It wasn't always pretty, but this had the feel of playoff lacrosse, and for us to come out on top is a real step forward."
 
The victory snaps a two-game skid for the Knights and gives them a 10-9 advantage all-time over RMU, who is now tied with Air Force for the most games played against Bellarmine. (Bellarmine visits Air Force for their 20^th matchup on April 5.)
 
"Sometimes you have to come together as a team and win games when you're not at your best," Whitley added. "We had 15 first-half turnovers and were our own worst enemy at times. To the kids' credit, we came out of the locker room at halftime with a much more disciplined approach and only turned the ball over four times after the intermission. The ability to display that level of poise is progress."
 
Freshman sensation Ezra Moore, coming off a six-point performance Tuesday at Marquette, paced the Knights with five points on a pair of scores and three helpers. John Alie, Joe Alie and Michael Blaymires each registered three points, with Blaymires tallying his second hat trick of the season.
 
"Michael Blaymires did a nice job finishing the ball today running out of the midfield and Ezra Moore's three fourth-quarter assists are a good sign of what his long-term potential in clutch situations really can be." Whitley said.
 
As the final score might indicate, it was not a runaway for the Knights. Bellarmine scored the first two goals of the game, but RMU netted the next three scores to lead 3-2 after one.
 
Moore would equalize with his first goal of the day less than a minute into the second period. Still, as in the first, the Colonials would rattle off a 3-0 run, this time taking a 6-3 lead. Blaymires would net his second score of the game falling away from the cage to the right with three seconds left in the half to cut the Knights' deficit to two at the break at 6-4.
 
John Alie would score the first goal of the second half before RMU responded with two more within less than a minute of each other to go back up three at 8-5. The ever-resilient Knights, however, responded with the final three goals of the frame by Moore, Blaymires and Justin Wescoat to knot the game at 8-8 heading into the fourth.
 
RMU took the lead initially less than a minute into the decisive fourth period, but the Knights' attack took control with three straight scores, helped by defender Jackson Campisano with his first score of the season driving down the field after scooping up a faceoff ground ball. The second score of his career brought the game back even at 9-9.
 
Moore and the Alie brothers then seized control of the game for the Knights. Moore assisted both Joe Alie and John Alie on consecutive scores to give the Knights an 11-9 advantage, the latter with 8:37 left.
 
After the Colonials scored once again to cut the Knights' lead to one, Moore found Joe Alie for a nice spinning goal for a two-score cushion again with 7:08 remaining.
 
In the game's final seconds, Matt Kirton added an empty-net goal from beyond the midfield line to bring the game to its final 13-10 tally.
 
Defensively for the Knights, Whitley credits Kirton and a pair of upperclassmen as making a big impact in limiting the Colonials' attack.
 
"Our defense did a tremendous job of keeping us in the game in the first half until the offense got its feet under them in the second half," said Whitley. "Matt Kirton, Christopher Reynolds and Nick Sheremetta did a great job against the RMU attack holding a pretty prolific attack to three goals."
 
In the cage for Bellarmine, Nolan Hudnut made 12 saves on 22 shots on goal (.545). His counterpart, the Colonials' Nate Fechter, saved 11 of 24 Knights shots on goal (.458).
 
On offense for RMU, their top two attackmen, Calum Brennan and David Burr, were limited to one goal each, though Brennan did give out three assists. Graeme MacLennan was RMU's only multi-goal scorer with two.
 
The possession battle was slightly tilted in favor of the Knights with Bellarmine taking 14 of 25 faceoffs (.560) and grabbing 23 ground balls to RMU's 21.
 
"Cole Messick and Grant Guthrie did a great job of securing possession at the faceoff X which, stopped Robert Morris from stringing runs together and allowed us to work through the sloppiness of the first half," Whitley said.
 
"At the end of the day, this is a game I don't think we would have won a month ago," Whitley said. "Today we made plays in pressure situations when we needed them and that's a really good sign. We still have some work to do, but this is a good win for us."
 
Up next, Bellarmine plays in their final midweek game of the regular season Tuesday at home against Hampton. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
 
"We've got another quick turnaround so there's not a lot of time to enjoy this one, but there are a lot of positives to take away as we move forward," Whitley concluded.
 
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