After a slow first half, the Belmont Bruin’s (3-10-1) offense got going in a big way as they scored four second half goals to defeat the visiting UNF Ospreys (2-9-1). Freshman Brandon Tarr (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored two goals for the Bruins, while Justin Ferguson (Littleton, Colo.) and Justin Hay (Toronto, Canada) scored the remaining two goals. The win gives Belmont its second straight conference win as they look to climb up in the Atlantic Sun standings.
The Bruins did hold a slight shot advantage at the end of the first half as they took seven shots to UNF’s four.
The second half proved to be a different story.
On senior night, it was Bruin senior Justin Ferguson who opened the scoring. Off of a corner kick, Ferguson beat UNF’s goalkeeper to the ball to head it into the net.
Brandon Tarr put the Bruins ahead by two goals when he connected on a right-footed volley off of another Bruin corner kick.
UNF made the game interesting when they responded in the 75th minute with a goal of their own. The Osprey’s Kevin Ramirez found himself open in the center of the field and rocketed a shot that got past the Belmont goalkeeper.
Nevertheless, the Bruins were not finished scoring. Only a minute after UNF’s goal, sophomore Will Moorad (Brentwood, Tenn.) found himself streaking towards the Osprey goal with the ball when he was tripped inside of the 18 yard box.
Brandon Tarr stepped up to take the impending penalty kick, and he buried into the bottom right corner of the net for his second goal of the match.
Senior Justin Hay added an insurance goal for the Bruin’s when a through ball sent in by a sliding Edgardo Padilla (Grapevine, Texas) left Hay one vs. one with the goalkeeper. Hay slotted the ball underneath the oncoming keeper to end the scoring for both squads.
Coach Davidson commented on the game, “The guys were terrific today. We were smart. We played well as a team. We worked hard for each other. We waited for our chances, and when they came, we took them.”
The win moves Belmont up to 5th place in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The top six seeds will advance on to the Atlantic Sun Tournament. The Bruin’s two wins also mean that they have momentum heading into their matchup with rival Lipscomb.
“We’re steaming in,” said Coach Davidson regarding the game against Lipscomb. “We’re feeling great. We’re feeling confident. The guys are excited and confident and feeling good.”
The Bruins will take on Lipscomb Thursday night at Lipscomb at 7:00 p.m. CDT.