Men's Soccer Drops 4-2 Decision at Houston Baptist To End Season
HOUSTON, Texas – The Belmont men's soccer team (6-12-0) finished the 2010 season on Tuesday night, falling to Houston Baptist (6-7-1) on the road by a score of 4-2. Junior Edgardo Padilla (Grapevine, Texas) and sophomore Brandon Tarr (Knoxville, Tenn.) scored goals for the Bruins.
BU got things started early, taking a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute of play. Junior Will Moorad (Brentwood, Tenn.) fed Padilla with a cross in the box, which the midfielder put away for his first goal of the season. The score marked Moorad's third assist on the season, third best on the team.
"We started great, scoring a beautiful goal," Head Coach Earle Davidson said. "They then got a couple of sloppy goals and we eventually ran out of gas. We took some chances to get back into the game, and they put a couple of extra ones in at the end."
As Davidson mentioned, Houston Baptist came back with two scores of their own before the first half ended. Kristopher Tyrpak and Leonel Munoz each tallied goals in the 29th and 33rd minutes, respectively, to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead at the break.
Belmont countered to start the second half, as Tarr tied the game at 2-2 only eight minutes into the period. This time it was freshman Nico Olsak (Boca Raton, Fla.) who was credited with the assist, his team-leading eighth of the season. Olsak's eight helpers on the year tied him for the best single-season assist performance in Belmont team history. Paulo Boero also recorded eight back in the 1993 season.
Munoz put away his second and third goals of the night as the Bruins were taking chances to win the final game of the season. In the 73rd minute Munoz scored off of a corner kick and then finished off an unassisted goal in the 84th minute of play.
Houston Baptist held on for the 4-2 victory after outshooting the Bruins 15-9 for the game. The Huskies also tallied nine corner kicks to Belmont's two. Junior Juho Illi (Villahde, Finland) and senior Wesley Wray (Shelbyville, Ky.) each played 45 minutes in goal, finishing with four and three saves, respectively.
Belmont finishes the season with a record of 6-12-0 and failed to qualify for the Atlantic Sun Tournament for the second straight year. The six wins by the Bruins this season doubled the team's total from 2009, and their three conference victory topped last season's 2-7-0 league mark.
"We've made a ton of progress from last year," Davidson said. "The older guys have showed maturity and the new guys have been a tremendous addition. With more maturity and experience we might win some of those close conference games this year. Even games like tonight, with some extra experience, we could definitely get it done."
