Belmont's Offense on Full Display Against Screaming Eagles
The Belmont men’s soccer team erased a 1-0 early deficit against the University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles Friday night and prevailed with a 4-1 win.
After falling behind in the first half, the Bruins found their rhythm with four straight goals, two of which were within a minute and a half of one another.
“Soccer is a 90-minute game. You just got to keep playing through it,” said Belmont’s head coach David Costa. “Our guys just stepped up. We made our subs as we went through the half to rest some guys, and two guys came in, and each scored a goal.”
After a back-and-forth start to the match, Southern Indiana struck first in the 27th minute with a penalty kick by Brian Novillo.
After the Eagles scored their goal, fifth-year Nate Mefford shifted the game’s momentum in the 36th minute by scoring Belmont’s first goal.
Just 85 seconds later, another goal struck at the 37th minute by freshman Aiden Pierpoint, giving the Bruins their first lead.
After the back-to-back goals, the Bruins carried the momentum heading into halftime.
During the first half, Belmont’s goalie Brody Sucher made one save, while Southern Indiana’s Jacob English saved 4 shots.
The game resumed after halftime, and after a slight scoring drought, Belmont extended its lead in the 73rd minute.
That was when graduate student Ethan Schlegel scored another goal in the 73rd minute, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead and marking his first career goal.
“It was awesome. I finally got my moment, got my first collegiate goal,” said Schlegel.
The Eagles’ frustrations boiled over with multiple yellow cards in this half, which gave an opening to sophomore Jaxon Stokes, who was able to strike another goal in the 78th minute to put Belmont up 4-1.
The fourth goal sent the already energized crowd into a frenzy and put the game out of reach, but that didn’t stop tensions from running high in the 89th minute, when Novillo was assessed a red card.
After the last-minute ejection, the game ended with Belmont victorious.
The Bruins took 18 shots, with a season-high 10 shots on goal, and the four goals represented their second-most goals of the season.
The Bruins will be hard-pressed to repeat their offensive output on the road Monday against the 15th-ranked Louisville Cardinals.
This article was written by Landon Parks
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