Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The Belmont University men's soccer team (1-10-3, 1-4-2) saw its streak of nearly 290 shutout minutes in Horizon League play come to an end Saturday night, as Northern Kentucky's tally in the 69th minute proved to be the difference maker. NKU, earning its first victory of the season, picked up the 1-0 win at E.S. Rose Park in a highly-contested match.
Despite outshooting Northern Kentucky 19-12 and earning 10 cornerkicks to the Norse's two, the Bruins came up as hard-luck losers Saturday evening. The Bruins, whose 19 shots were a season high, were persistent on the attack all match long showing some of the best offense they have all season. Belmont's 10 setpiece bids tie its season high.
Eli Crognale (Gahanna, Ohio), Elliot Jones (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Adriano Balani (Durres, Albania) each registered four shots apiece as the redshirt-junior Jones peppered three shots on goal.Mertcan Akar (Cologne, Germany) held court in the box, notching four saves including a dazzling stop in the second half.
Scurrying together to mount one last attack, Crognale had a chance to tie it with just 20 seconds remaining but the rookie's bicycle kick missed high of the frame. All in all the Bruins would register several productive offensive attacks on the match, but not one would materialize. In the 87th an 88th minutes, Belmont would attack with a pair of setpieces but neither could connect.
"It was a great effort from really everyone out there, there were some good performances off the bench. Soccer can be a cruel game. We had so many chances, so many great chances. We defended well for the most part, we had one let down and they took advantage," remarked Head Coach Bryan Green. "It was tough, I feel bad for the guys because they put in a great effort."
For the eighth time in its past 11 matches, Belmont was deadlocked at 0-0 with its opponent at the half. After owning a firm edge in terms of possession in the first stanza as well as outshooting NKU, 9-5, Belmont looked primed to earn a conference result. Belmont carried its momentum into the second half, coming out with aggression, but a swift strike by NKU was the story of the game. In the 68th, Belmont picked up a crucial team save, only to see NKU score off the following restart just moments later. NKU's Eirik Abney played a throw in into the box where he found Campbell Morris who pushed it past Akar after receiving the touch in the middle of the 18'.
NKU's Owen Betz recorded the shutout, recording six saves.
One of the Bruins closest chances to equalizing occurred in the 71st when it nearly drew even with an NKU own goal.
For the Bruins, it was their first loss when outshooting their opponent.
With 100 saves on the season, Akar moves into sole possession of fifth place in Belmont's all-time single season saves list and is just the fifth goalkeeper in program history to record triple-digit saves.
Belmont resumes action this Tuesday, Oct. 18 when it hosts the Evansville Purple Aces for its final non-conference contest of the season.
