The Belmont Abbey men's soccer team suffered a 3-1 loss to the visiting North Greenville Crusaders this afternoon before a homecoming crowd of 1,100. The match was tied 1-1 at intermission but North Greenville scored twice in the second half to secure the win. The victory improves the North Greenville record to 4-5-1 overall and 3-3-0 in league play, while the Abbey, which had its three-match losing streak snapped, drops to 6-4-0 overall and 4-2-0 in Conference Carolinas.

Belmont Abbey finished the match with advantages in shots (18-6) and corner kicks (3-2), but it was North Greenville that finished its chances as it grabbed the lead in the 34th minute.

After an Abbey clearance off the goal line, Brandon Harrison scooped up the loose ball, and unmarked, blasted a shot past Philip Bru for the goal, snapping the Abbey's and Bru's three-match scoreless streak.

Less than four minutes later, the Abbey retaliated, evening the match as Ameer Pinto gained possession just inside North Greenville territory and sent a perfectly weighted through ball ahead to a streaking Jay Nazari, who split two defenders and was faced with a one one one with goalkeeper Justen Braddock. Braddock came off his line to challenge, and just before he met Nazari, Nazari slid the ball just under Braddock's body from 15 yards out and it rolled into the net to deadlock the match at one.

The contest stayed tied at one until the 51st minute when North Greenville Todd Johnston took over. Johnston scored the last two goals of the match in a 14 minute span to surge North Greenville ahead for good.

His first strike, which put the Crusaders on top to stay, came at the 51:01 mark when he blasted a shot from the right corner of the box that Bru deflected. Before Bru could scramble to his feet, the ball rolled into the net for the score.

15 minutes later, Johnston struck again as Ara Zadoorian, who was stationed near the top of the box, slid the ball over to Johnston on the right corner, whose strike beat Bru for his second goal, which closed the scoring.

The contest was a physical one, with 28 fouls and five cards issued. North Greenville was stopped for 19 fouls to just nine for the Abbey. Braddock made eight saves for North Greenville,while Bru did not make a save.