CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State (1-2) upended Bellarmine (2-3) 16-10 in the home opener on Tuesday afternoon. The Vikings were led by redshirt sophomore
Xander Johnson, who set the program record for goals (8) and tied the record for points (8) along with shots on goal (10).
Bellarmine opened the scoring two and a half minutes into the game for their only lead of the day.
Jacob Lubrant knotted the game with an unassisted tally at 8:24 and was followed by three straight goals from Johnson as the Green and White led 4-1 with 3:26 remaining in the quarter. The Knights tallied the final two goals of the quarter to pull within 4-3.
The two teams traded a pair of goals to start the second quarter before back-to-back goals from
Jacob Lubrant and
Alex Van Voorhis gave the Green and White an 8-5 lead at the intermission.
The Knights rattled off three unanswered goals to open the third quarter, tying the game at eight apiece with 12:23 to go. Johnson halted the run off an assist from
Amiri Austin, and
Michael Care followed with a man-up goal to make it 10-8 with 8:21 remaining.
Following a Bellarmine goal, the Vikings ran off four straight goals to close the quarter, highlighted by two more strikes from Johnson, to lead 14-9 with one quarter left in regulation.
Johnson bagged his final goal of the game just 43 seconds into the fourth to make it 15-9. The Knights scored one last time four minutes later to trail 15-10.
Brennen Hickey put the final touches on the 16-10 victory with an unassisted tally at the 6:03 mark.
Lubrant was second on the team in points with five on two goals and three assists. Austin had four points on the day with two goals and two assists.
Alex Van Voorhis dished out a team-best four assists.
Robbie Stewart went 16-of-25 in the faceoff circle to go along with a game-best nine ground balls.
Griffin Valli forced a game-best three caused turnovers.
Justin Dalum earned his first win in the cage after making 12 saves in 56 minutes.
Oliver Vanyo played the final four minutes but didn't face a shot.
Cleveland State heads back out on the road to take on Marquette on Saturday, February 22 at noon.
