Box Score
MONTGOMERY, Ala.- The Belhaven men's soccer team is moving on to the round of eight at the 2012 NAIA National Championships Presented by Carrabba's Italian Grill, thanks to a 2-1 victory over the University of Science and Arts (Okla.) Tuesday afternoon. The Blazers have advanced to the round of 16 in each of the last three seasons, but this is the first time since 1993 that Belhaven has won back to back national tournament games in the same year.

Belhaven (16-4-1), playing without leading scorer Will Monsour, needed someone to step up and provide offense and David Major answered the call. The Blazers broke through for the game's first goal in the 8th minute when Major headed the ball past goalkeeper Bryan Byars for a 1-0 lead. Loic Miliani setup the shot with a perfectly placed corner kick to garner the assist, which was his team leading 12th of the season. For Major, the goal was his second of the 2012 campaign.

Science and Arts (14-1-4) evened the game up at 1-1 on an unassisted score by Stephen Owusu in the 21st minute. Owusu managed to work his way through the Blazer defense into the box where he fired the shot into the corner of the goal. Owusu' score would be the final one of the first of half.

Both teams battled to a stalemate following the equalizer from Owusu until Belhaven notched the game winner. This time it was Giovanni Correa who rose to the occasion in the 78th minute with his first goal of the season. Correa scored without the aid of an assist, dodging his way through defenders for an open shot into the left side of the net to make it a 2-1 lead.

The Blazers defense, led by goalie Carl Blundell, held off the Drovers the rest of the way to preserve the victory.

“I was really proud of the guys today,” said Belhaven Head Coach Brian McMahon after the match. “I thought the guys did a great job at sticking to our game plan of maintaining possession of the ball and showing creative attacking play. I also feel another factor in the game was how challenging our schedule was this year that helped prepare us for the teams in the national tournament. This was our 13 game against a top 25 team and our third top 10 win of the season.”

Victor France led the Blazers in shot attempts with three followed by Miliani with two. Nicolas Alberto had five shots for Science and Arts while Owusu tallied three attempts and the only goal. The Drovers outshot Belhaven over the course of 90 minutes, 19-14, while owning a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal.

Blundell earned five saves and in the process picked up the victory, running his record to 14-4-1 on the season in net. Byars made two saves and took the loss in goal for Science and Arts.

The Blazers will now battle Hannibal-LaGrange College in the quarterfinals Wednesday morning at 11:00 AM in Montgomery. The Trojans have pulled off two upsets in the first two rounds of the tournament to make their way into the round of eight. They defeated 13th seed Missouri Valley 1-0 in the opening round and toppled 4th seed Rio Grande 2-1 in double overtime on Monday.

Fans can follow along with live stats, courtesy of Dakstats and the NAIA, and access the official NAIA National Championship Tournament page by clicking here.