GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Bellarmine Knights Lacrosse earned their first win of the season in wire-to-wire fashion, beating the Mercyhurst Lakers 17-9 on the road on Saturday afternoon.  With the result, the Knights improve to 1-1 overall on the young season.

The Knights came out of the gates firing on all cylinders as Joe Alie set the tone with a goal off the feed from Ty Washington.  Ian Kohut and Leo Prosser subsequently got in on the action with their first goals of the season to make it 3-0 Knights.  Mercyhurst was able to get on the board with a man-up goal in the last minute of the first quarter following an illegal body check penalty, but Bellarmine quickly responded with a man-up goal of their own as Luke Healy scored his first goal of the season following a slashing penalty on the Lakers to make it 4-1.  Following a Mercyhurst offside penalty, the Knights took advantage of another man-up opportunity as Joe Alie scored off the pass from Ezra Moore to up the lead to 5-1.  With 5:11 to go in the period, John Alie responded to a Mercyhurst score with his second goal to make it 6-2.  The Lakers were able to find some momentum to end the half, scoring three straight goals to cut the Knights' lead to 6-5 at halftime.

Coming out of the break, the Knights immediately re-seized the momentum as Joe Alie scored off the feed from Washington, John Alie found Moore for a goal, and Michael Blaymires got on the board off a pass from Moore to stretch the lead back to four before two minutes had elapsed in the third quarter.  The Lakers answered with another goal, but were unable to get any closer, as two more goals from John Alie were followed by goals from Healy and Moore to widen the gap to 13-6.  The Knights remained in control from that point forward as Blaymires, Moore, Jack Fischel and John Alie all scored in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice.

John Alie led the way for the Knights with 10 shots (seven on goal), four goals and three assists.  Moore scored a career high-tying three goals on eight shots and four shots on goal to go along with two assists.  Joe Alie supplied three goals and one assist.  Blaymires and Healy had two goals apiece.  Healy's two were a career high.  Prosser's goal was the first of the freshman attack/midfield's career.  Niko Madden led the Knights with a career-high seven ground balls and Nolan Hudnut recorded 13 saves at goalie.

As a team, the Knights outshot Mercyhurst 42-34 overall and 24-22 in shots on goal.  Bellarmine finished with a 16-12 advantage in won faceoffs and had nine assists on their 17 goals.

Head Coach Andrew Whitley:

"This was a really good bounce-back win for us. We did a really good job of learning from our mistakes and improving from Monday. It was far from perfect, but we are committed to the process and I was happy with our response to Monday."

"The attack continued to produce at a high level and showed real poise in the second half. The midfield responded with some significant production which opened up more opportunities for our attack."

"Luke Healy was a workhorse today at both ends of the field scoring two goals and playing several meaningful possessions on the defensive end. He is becoming the emotional bellwether for our program."

"Niko Madden had his best day at the X and is starting to look like the player we think he can be."

"The lighting in the bubble was challenging for both goalies and I give Nolan Hudnut a lot of credit for grinding through the circumstances."

"Today is a good win for us and nice to get the first one. We definitely will be stepping up in brand on Tuesday against Ohio State, but it's a good opportunity to take the lessons from both Duke and Mercyhurst and see how our improvement looks against a top-20 opponent."

Up next, the Knights will play their second road game against a power conference opponent as they head to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Tuesday, February 10 at 3 PM.

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