Box Score HARRISONBURG, Va. -- The Belmont University men's soccer team dropped a 2-0 decision to James Madison Tuesday evening at University Park in Harrisonburg, Va.
Belmont (4-8-2) came out of the gates in attack mode as the Bruins, hoping to break a current four-match slide, controlled the tempo throughout the first half.
BU's best opportunity at finding the back of the net came midway through the first half as back-to-back shots by Belmont's Tyler Vieth (Evansville, Ind.) and Alfred Edmonds (San Jose, Calif.) narrowly missed with both ricocheting off the goal posts.
The two teams remained scoreless heading into halftime as Belmont, led by a strong performance by Edmonds, recorded a commanding 8-3 shot advantage over the Dukes.
"The first half performance was likely our finest of the year," Belmont head coach Earle Davidson said. "We had a number of really good chances right in front of the goal in order to gain a comfortable lead, we just couldn't tuck them away."
James Madison (5-7-1, 0-4-0 CAA) broke through early in the second half as JMU's Daniel Simpson headed in a corner kick from senior Adam Bastidas in the 51st minute of the match.
The goal proved to be Simpson's first of the season while Bastidas recorded his team-high fifth assist on the year.
After a high-powered effort in the first half, Belmont's offense stalled throughout much of the second stanza as James Madison used a team-leading fifth goal by forward Josh Grant in the 87th minute of the contest in order to prevail with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Bruins.
"JMU came out aggressively in the second half and scored off their first real chance of merit in the match," Davidson said. "We had to take some chances late in the half which exposed ourselves at the back."
Overall, the Bruins and Dukes played even on shots (10-10) with JMU holding a 7-1 shot-on-goal advantage.
Belmont's Edmonds led both squads with a match-best four shot attempts on the contest with all four coming in the first half.
Bruin goalkeeper Grayson Rector (Peachtree City, Ga.) recorded five saves on the evening for Belmont.
Belmont will return to action Saturday evening as the Bruins return home to E.S. Rose Park for a 5 p.m. CT match with the University of Buffalo.
