BELMONT, N.C.—The Belmont Abbey men's soccer team celebrated nine seniors Wednesday evening with a 3-1 victory over Southern Wesleyan. It was the final regular-season home match for the Crusaders in 2022.
Senior
Davis McBee got the Crusaders on the scoreboard in the first half before the team pulled away in the second half with the first-career goals for
Josh Gregg and
Samuel Atherton.
Belmont Abbey improved to 3-10-3 overall, 2-5-3 in Conference Carolinas. Southern Wesleyan finishes the season 2-12-1, 1-9-1 in the league.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Belmont Abbey wasted little time trying to get on the board first with four shots in the first 8:12 of the match.
- The Warriors got on the board first in the 26th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
- The Crusaders equalized less than 90 seconds later with McBee's third goal of the season off an assist by Jorge Aguilar.
- The Abbey pulled ahead in the 48th minute thanks to Gregg's goal on a header via a McBee corner kick.
- Atherton extended the lead to 3-1 with his first career goal in the 64th minute off an assist from Omar Gonzalez.
- Nikolaus Opel made three saves in his final home match for the Crusaders.
- Belmont Abbey finished with 25 shots, nine of which were on target. Both totals are season-bests for the Crusaders.
- Nine seniors were recognized during a pregame ceremony. They included: McBee, Opel, Ryan Cowie, Kevin Daly, Nathan Deimling, Zion Duncan, Mah Reh, Tyler Stopford and Wilmer Torin.
- Additionally, head coach John Keating was honored at halftime for becoming the all-time winningest head coach in men's soccer program history this past weekend.
UP NEXT
- Belmont Abbey closes out the 2022 season with a match at Emmanuel at 7 p.m. Saturday.
