Mercer University
Bellarmine
Men's Lacrosse Downs Bellarmine for Third Straight Win
3/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
MACON, Ga. – Mercer sophomore Chris Rahill notched his first career hat trick to lead the men's lacrosse team to an 8-6 victory over Bellarmine at Five Star Stadium on Saturday.
Mercer's third straight win pushed the team to 3-5 on the year and positions the Bears atop the Southern Conference standings with an unblemished 3-0 record. Bellarmine slipped to 2-5 (1-2 SoCon).
Mercer never trailed in the game after two Rahill scores helped the Bears bust open a 3-0 first quarter lead. He added another tally in the fourth quarter and finished with three goals on six total shots.
Junior Chris Baxa netted a pair of goals while freshman Jackson Kleintz, junior Ben LeSane and freshman Scott Baird also reached the scoring column. As a team, the Bears placed 17 of their 30 shots on goal.
After the Bears took a 3-0 lead in the first stanza, the Knights outscored the hosts 2-1 in the second frame to trim their deficit to two at intermission. Baird found Baxa open for the first goal out of the break, but Bellarmine was able to tack on two more goals to make it a slim 5-4 Mercer advantage entering the fourth quarter.
Baxa found the net again with 10:03 to play to get the buffer back to two, and Rahill and Kleintz each scored inside the final four minutes to seal the victory. Bellarmine sophomore Jack Perkins scored with 24 seconds left to account for the final margin.
Junior goalie Mike Nugent made 15 saves while facing 21 shots on goal. Five of Nugent's stops came in the first quarter to help the Bears assume the early lead.
The six goals allowed by the Mercer defense marked the fewest since a 16-5 victory at Wagner on March 30, 2014. Senior Justin Wood caused three turnovers to lead seven different defenders with at least one caused turnover.
Mercer senior Justin Evans and Bellarmine freshman Connor Harryman split 18 faceoffs evenly at nine apiece. The Knights committed five penalties while the Bears were only whistled for one infraction.
The Bears continue Southern Conference play at VMI on April 4. Game time in Lexington, Virginia is slated for noon.
