BRISTOL, Tenn. – Belmont Abbey men's soccer head coach John Keating is the new all-time wins leader in program history after the Crusaders defeated King 5-0 Saturday in a Conference Carolinas match Saturday at Parks Field.
 
Keating won his 70th match at The Abbey, surpassing Stuart Brown to set the new program best mark. Belmont Abbey took a commanding 3-0 lead into halftime and added two more goals in the final 45 minutes to further cement the victory.
 
The Crusaders are now 2-9-3 overall and 1-4-3 in Conference Carolinas. The Tornado are now 2-9-2 overall and 1-7-1 in the league.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Nikolaus Opel got the start in goal for the Crusaders.
• Nate Cox scored his first goal of the season in the 22nd minute off an assist from Eric Carter.
• Zion Duncan added the second goal in the 39th minute to put the Crusaders up 2-0.
• Belmont Abbey struck quickly in the 43rd minute with an Omar Gonzalez goal for a 3-0 advantage.
• Jorge Aguilar was credited with assists on the second and third goals.
• Tyler Stopford scored a pair of goals in the second half in the 51st and 63rd minutes, respectively.
• Kensly Owens and Caelan Smith also finished the match with assists on the Stopford goals.
• Deshaun Corry made his season debut for the Crusaders in the second half.
• Noah Stanger made one save in his 28 minutes of action. Opel was credited with the win.
• Saturday's win was the first shutout victory of the season for The Abbey.   
• Belmont Abbey finished with 12 shots for the match, 8 on target.
• King had seven shots and just one on target.

 
 
UP NEXT

• The Crusaders play three matches during the final week of the regular season starting with a home match against Francis Marion Monday at 7 p.m. The match was rescheduled from October 1 due to Hurricane Ian.
• Belmont Abbey follows that with a match on Senior Night at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Southern Wesleyan and a 7 p.m. match at Emmanuel next Saturday.