Air Force Academy
Bellarmine
Falcon Lacrosse Soars Past Bellarmine, 20-2
4/1/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Box Score in PDF 
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Air Force posted a 20-2 win over Bellarmine in conference action, Saturday night, in the Holaday Athletic Center. The Falcons, now 7-3 with a perfect mark in the SoCon, posted their largest modern-era margin of victory since beating Sienna, 25-2, in 1995. Chris Walsch led the Falcons with a season-high eight points from five goals and three assists. Nick Hruby netted his second-consecutive hat trick and fifth of the season.
The Falcons closed the first period with a 3-0 lead over the Knights. Hruby registered the first goal from Walsch's feed. The Walsch-Hruby connection extended both active streaks; Walsch is now on a 34-game point streak, while Hruby is on a 23-game goal streak. Andrew Tien netted the second goal for his eighth goal of the season. Grant Gould added an assist in Hruby's second goal at the 5:21 mark.
Bellarmine tallied their first goal of the game at 7:21 in the second period. The Falcons responded by plugging in four unanswered goals by the end of the period. Walsch assisted Gould for his 15th goal of the season. Hruby followed up with his third goal by way of Jack Flynn's fifth assist of the season. Gould and Walsch connected again, this time with Walsch as the scorer, in the man-up opportunity. Walsch punched in another goal in an unassisted attack with nine seconds remaining in the half.
At halftime, Air Force led Bellarmine, 8-1. The Falcons took 24 first-half shots, scooped up 12 ground balls and went eight-for-ten at X.
The Falcons continued their scoring spree into the third period adding five more unanswered goals. Marcus Ward registered his 10th goal of the season in an unassisted attack. Austin Smith followed up with his first goal of the game from Cameron Carter's assist. Hruby added another assist to the scoresheet with a clean feed to Flynn for his seventh goal of the season. Walsch netted the last two goals for Air Force in the third period; Matthew Schwartz was credited for an assist while the other was unassisted.
Air Force exploded in the fourth period, outscoring Bellarmine, 8-1, in the final 15 minutes. Walsch logged his fifth goal 11 seconds into the final period. The goal marked a season-high goals performance for Walsch. The five-goal effort marked his sixth hat trick of the season and third-straight hat trick in as many tries against conference opponents this year. Walsch is now tied with conference leaders Wesley Sanders (VMI) and Will Hendrick (Jacksonville) for the most goals in a single-game this season. The Finksburg, Maryland, native took five shots on goal for a perfect shots-on-goal percentage on the game.
Flynn added his second goal of the game with an assist from Chet Dunstan in a man-up opportunity. Walsch added his eighth point of the game with an assist to Gould. Stephen Parker and Daniel Pagano rattled off their first goals of the season by way of Kyle Richbourg's assist. Richbourg's two assists occurred in a span of nine seconds; they are his first career points. Just over a minute later, Dunstan added another assist in Ward's second goal. Trey Lervick and Dominic Haight added their first points to the scorebooks as Haight assisted Lervick in the 19th goal of the game. Sheamus Larkin concluded the action with an unassisted goal at 1:45 remaining, for his second of the season.
Head coach Eric Seremet cycled in a season-high 34 players into the game; seven of which added their first career points to the stat books. A season-high 11 Falcons registered goals in the win. Walsch's eight points tie conference leader Teddy Hatfield of Richmond for the most single-game points this season.
At the final whistle, Air Force outshot Bellarmine, 56-14, with 30 shots coming on goal. Trent Harper went 11-16 at X, while Josh Radjenovich went 5-6. Air Force won 19-of-26 face-offs on the game. Brandon Jones led the team with seven ground balls, while six individual Falcons accounted for six caused turnovers. The Air Force defense held Bellarmine's leading attack man, Tucker Ciessau, to one shot and no points on the game. Mitch Rose is now 2-1 while defending the Falcons' cage; he made four saves with two-goals allowed.
Air Force returns to conference action on the road against Furman, April 8, at 12:00 p.m. ET, in Greenville, S.C. The Falcons are on a 12-0 win-streak in conference games since joining the SoCon last season.
