2019 Men’s College Lacrosse Year In Review: #65 Bellarmine Knights

With the 2019 college lacrosse season complete, it’s time to look back at how all 73 teams did during the season, along with an early look at each squad for 2020.

Note: These are not end of season rankings.

Here’s our last five Year In Review posts we’ve done:

• #70 NJIT
• #69 Wagner
• #68 Binghamton
• #67 Dartmouth
• #66 Bryant

To see all of our posts, check out the 2019 Year In Review section on the site.

Let’s continue our 2019 Year In Review!

#65 Bellarmine Knights

Conference: SoCon
2019 Record: 3-10 (3-4 in SoCon)
Head coach: Jim Mitchell (1st Season)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Riley Seay (30)
Assists: Ian Miller (18)
Points: Riley Seay (39)
Faceoffs: J.T. Simonton (73-of-164; 44.5%)
Ground balls: J.T. Simonton (39)
Caused turnovers: Josh Wehn (18)
Goals against average: Jordan Dondoyano (13.38 GAA)
Save percentage: Jordan Dondoyano (51.1%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: A/M Ian Miller (14 Gs, 18 As, 9 GBs, 2 CTs), D Josh Wehn (18 CTs, 33 GBs, 1 A), A Stephen Votto (19 Gs, 8 As, 16 GBs, 2 CTs), FOGO Turner Lockyear (46.3% FOs, 22 GBs, 1 CT)
Senior scoring departing: 60 of 217 points (27.6%)
Senior starts lost: 38 of 130 (29.2%)

Season Summary

Ever since Bellarmine’s 6-9 record in 2016, the Knights had regressed since. This time, it was a 3-10 mark under first year head coach Jim Mitchell.

After losing to Wagner in overtime, Bellarmine lost their next three games by a decent margin. But they did improve in their next three games, despite tough defeats.

After Riley Seay scored with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie their game against Detroit Mercy, the Titans scored with nine seconds to go to escape with a win. Against Utah, the Knights tied things up at six after a slow first quarter, but the Utes managed to come back and take a one-goal lead. Morgan Macko’s shot was saved by Utah’s Liam Donnelly with under 30 seconds to go to give the Utes another win. And against Jacksonville, Bellarmine tied the game up at six with 11:49 left in the game before the Dolphins outscored the Knights 5-2 to end their SoCon opener.

It was right at the end of March when Bellarmine tasted their first victory of the season with a 16-13 win over Mercer. Two more followed as the Knights held off VMI and exploding in the second half against Furman. There was still a chance for Bellarmine to make it to the SoCon Tournament, but they had to get past High Point and Air Force for starters.

Despite leading 11-7 with 10:58 in the third, the Panthers got things going on offense with a 9-2 run up until the final 1:21 of the game. Bellarmine cut the High Point lead to one, but two shots by Macko, one on a man-up opportunity, could not find the back of the net. The team ended their year with a loss to Air Force.

To most, it did not look like a good year for Bellarmine. But they did compete in the SoCon and for a spot in the conference tournament, granted they defeated the bottom three teams in the conference. The Knights would have certainly loved to be in the conference tournament, but it shows that Bellarmine is still a tough opponent to face in SoCon play.

Looking Ahead

At the end of the season, things appeared to be looking good for the program. Seay, Macko, and Landon Trout were going to return, the team’s top three scorers. Add Luke Legnard and that’s four of their top six, which were also the only players with at least 20 points. The next highest scorer was midfielder Blake Roshkowski with seven points (and he’s also returning).

Defensemen Eric Rubak, Jon Robbins, Brendan Fennell, and Collin Murray should return, and rising redshirt senior SSDM Cole Wolfson has one more year of eligibility should he come back. And don’t forget FOGO J.T. Simonton and goalie Jordan Dondoyano. The team built a strong foundation heading into the fall of 2020.

But in a sudden move, Mitchell announced his resignation as head coach after a season on June 11. And shortly after, Riley Seay entered his name into the transfer portal.

It’s still a strong foundation, but it got a little weaker with those two moves. The Knights are still looking for a head coach, but multiple sources tell College Crosse their scholarship package distribution was not in good shape and has been a turn off for some candidates. The search was also pushed back after the school announced their entire athletics program would jump to Division I and join the Atlantic Sun conference. We’ll see who is tasked with leading the program in 2020 and beyond.