LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bellarmine lacrosse team won their home opener today, pulling off a come-from-behind victory over Virginia Military Institute, 8-5, today at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium. In the four years of the program's existence, the Bellarmine lacrosse team (1-1) has never lost a home opener.

That streak looked very shaky today against the Keydets (0-3), who held a comfortable 4-1 lead midway through the third quarter. The Knights rallied, however, by rattling off five straight goals, and were aided in large part by a costly VMI penalty late in the third.

Matt Holland (Victoria, British Columbia) scored one goal and assisted on three others to pace Bellarmine. Fellow senior John Kirk (Massapequa Park, N.Y.) added a pair of goals and an assist.

Jacob Weimer added two goals for the Keydets.

Bellarmine struggled early, with their only first half goal coming in the form of a poor clear attempt by VMI. Attack Shane Andersen (Denver, Colo.) was the only Knight back on the attempted clear, but still managed to intercept a cross-field pass just in front of Bellarmine's goal, then flicked the ball to Jamie Floris (Niagara on the Lake, Ontario), who came streaking into the box and deposited the first period score.

In the second half, Bellarmine generated much more offense. With just under six minutes left in the third period, Derek Hopcroft (Toronto, Ontario) managed to weave his way in on the left side of the cage and, after a spin move to avoid a defender, found the upper left corner of the goal to cut the lead to 4-2. After the score, Bellarmine coach Jack McGetrick questioned the legality of the stick used by VMI's David Padgett, who moments earlier had kept possession of the ball after taking several hits by Bellarmine players.

The officials did indeed find Padgett's crosse too deep and assigned him three minutes of unreleasable time in the penalty box. Bellarmine wasted no time taking advantage. The Knights scored three man-up goals in a span of less than a minute to take a 5-4 lead and totally shift the momentum of the game.

Kirk would add his second goal of the game two and a half minutes into the fourth period when he blasted an 18-foot shot past Keydet keeper Sean McCoy giving Bellarmine a 6-4 advantage. VMI would finally end Bellarmine's run by notching a goal with 6:26 left in the game, but Bellarmine's defense hung tough to keep the Keydets from knotting it up. Bellarmine goalie Justin Burks' (San Diego, Calif.) critical save on Bobby Davis' short shot with 2:10 remaining was the late defensive highlight play.

The Knights would finally tack on a pair of insurance goals in the final 1:50 to secure the win.

Burks played the entire second half to pick up the win, turning away four shots. The Knights lost the face-off battle, 9-6, but out-shot the Keydets, 45-26.

Next up for Bellarmine is a home contest against Robert Morris, starting at 1:00 p.m. next Saturday.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In spite of holding its first second-half advantage of the young season, the VMI Keydet lacrosse team dropped a close matchup to the Bellarmine Knights on Saturday, falling 8-5 in Louisville, Ky.

Today's contest was the first time the Keydets had taken on an opponent outside the top-25 national rankings, and VMI appeared comfortable early. The Keydets jumped on top quickly, as sophomore Jacob Weimer gave the Keydets an early 1-0 lead with his goal, which was assisted on by Lowell Patterson. VMI's first period attack did not end there, as Kevin Hill and Tim Moran would both tally opening quarter goals. Both of the markers were assisted on by Brett Leonard, and the Keydets took that 3-0 lead after one frame of play. VMI's three goals came on just nine shots.

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2008-02-23