USAF, Colo. – Cleveland State (9-7), appearing in its first-ever postseason game, defeated Bellarmine (9-8) 15-12 in the ASUN First Round on Tuesday afternoon. The ninth victory sets a program record for most wins in a single season.
With the win, the Green and White advance to the ASUN Semifinals on Friday against Utah at 1 p.m.
Cleveland State wasted no time getting on the board as Amiri Austin scored a minute into the game. Two minutes later, Wyatt Robertson doubled the margin off an assist from Alex Van Voorhis. Jacob Lubrant found the back of the net off a pass from Connor Zwagerman to make it 3-0 with 6:04 left in the opening quarter.
Bellarmine broke through at the 5:58 mark to pull within two goals. Less than a minute later, Robertson netted his second goal of the game to make it 4-1. The Knights answered back with consecutive goals to climb within one with 2:47 showing on the scoreboard.
Just 13 seconds later, Robertson completed his first quarter hat-trick to make it 5-3. Gavin Held then pushed the advantage to 6-3 with 1:31 remaining, but a Bellarmine goal with a second left made it 6-4 Cleveland State heading into the second.
Parker Yearego started the new quarter with an unassisted tally at the 13:32 mark, as the lead stood at 7-4. Bellarmine netted its only goal of the quarter with 8:29 showing to trail by two.
Van Voorhis netted a goal with two seconds left off a pass from Robinson to lead 8-5 at halftime.
The Knights grabbed the first goal of the second half to pull within a pair with 13:15 to go in the quarter. The Vikings answered back with three unanswered tallies, with the first two coming from Robertson and the final by Zwagerman, to lead 12-6 with 5:32 remaining in the period.
Bellarmine scored the final two goals of the third to trail 12-8 as the contest shifted to the fourth.
The Knights opened the final quarter with a goal at the 12:30 mark to make it a three-goal game. Cleveland State answered right back with goals from Cole Pollard and Yearego's third of the game to lead 14-9 with 10:14 left in regulation.
Bellarmine rattled off three unanswered goals to get within two, 14-12, with 6:59 left in regulation. However, the Vikings defense held strong, and Zwagerman put the exclamation point on the 15-12 win with his second of the game with 24 seconds left as the Vikings advanced to the semifinals.
Robertson had a career day as the freshman finished with eight points on five goals and three assists. The eight points tie the program record for a single game while the five tallies are tied for the third most.
Robbie Brazanskas scooped up a game-best six ground balls and Karson Burkey had a game-high two caused turnovers. Robbie Stewart led the way in the faceoff circle with seven wins. Connor Kernan earned the win in goal after making 12 saves.
