Four different Crusaders found the back of the net as the Belmont Abbey men's soccer team earned its fourth-straight win, and the eighth victory in its last nine tries with a 4-1 win at Barton this evening. The Abbey moves to 10-5-2 overall and 6-1-1 in Conference Carolinas, while Barton drops to 5-10-1 overall and 2-5-1 in Conference Carolinas. The Abbey's win, combined with Lees-McRae's 2-0 loss at Erskine, moves both schools into a tie for the league lead with one match remaining Saturday afternoon.

The Abbey took a 2-0 halftime lead as junior Aaron Weldon gave the Crusaders a lead they would never lose, taking a give-and-go from Jose Penaloza and beating Barton netminder Brian Riesenberg for the goal at the 11:41 mark.

19 minutes later, Penaloza made it 2-0 when he buried a penalty kick after a Crusader was pulled down in the box.

In the 74th minute, Stuart Kirk widened the gap to 3-0 as he took a pass from Ross Smith and beat Riesenberg for the goal. It is the second straight match that Smith assisted Kirk.

Exactly nine minutes later, Josh Drew scored his first career goal, as Gianluca D'Agata smashed a shot off the crossbar, where the rebound came to the waiting foot of Drew, who one-timed the shot into the net.

In the 83rd minute Barton pulled one back on a goal by Archer Bane off of a serve from Justin Taylor.

Belmont Abbey outshot the Bulldogs 13-6. Both teams were awarded three corner kicks apiece. Sergio Ramirez made four saves for the Abbey.