Box Score
ORANGE BEACH, Ala.- The Belhaven men's soccer team kept its perfect season alive on Saturday defeating 15^th ranked University of Texas-Brownsville 3-2. Junior forward Will Monsour sent in the game winner with just under four minutes to play, sending the Blazers to their seventh win of the year. Belhaven, ranked 4^th in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll, opened the weekend with a 3-0 win over Embry-Riddle Friday night.
 
Belhaven (7-0) fired the first volley of the match in the 13^th minute when senior midfielder Guilherme Sousa broke loose behind the Scorpions defense for the goal to make it 1-0. Eduardo Cruz provided the assist with a perfect pass that setup Sousa's shot in front of the net.
 
The Blazers maintained their one goal advantage until the 26^th minute when Ricardo Diegues delivered the equalizer for Texas-Brownsville (1-1-3). Both offenses then went silent until the later stages of the second half.
 
The 1-1 tie was finally broken in the 73^rd minute when Belhaven's senior defender Tom Cosgrave headed in a shot past goalie Ben Perez to build a 2-1 lead. Loic Miliani added his seventh assist of the season by lending a helping hand on the Cosgrave goal.
 
Diegues took it upon himself to shoulder the Scorpions offense, scoring his second goal of the night in the 85^th minute to knot the match at 2-2. This time he had some help from Jair Reyna who dished out the assist. Texas-Brownsville only had three shots on goal the entire match and all three came off the foot of Diegues who found the back of the net with two of them. The other resulted in the only save of the night for Belhaven goalkeeper Carl Blundell.
 
The Scorpions managed to contain Monsour for most of the night, but he came up big in the 87^th minute to notch the game winner. Monsour, the NAIA's leading scorer with 13 goals on the season, took advantage of a UTB turnover and tucked the ball into the net to make it 3-2. The Blazers defense locked down the Scorpions offense for the final three minutes to secure the win.
 
“Tonight's match had a national tournament feel and I was proud of the guys response to adversity we faced,” said Belhaven Head Coach Brian McMahon. “Give credit to Texas-Brownsville as they played really well and caused us a lot of problems. We have talked all year about playing to a standard and I thought we did a good job tonight.”
 
Miliani, Cruz, and Victor France led the Blazers in shot attempts with three apiece and as a team Belhaven held a 16-13 edge in total shots. Eight of Belhaven's shots were of the on goal variety. Diegues ended the match with six shots for the Scorpions.
 
Blundell earned his seventh win of the season logging all 90 minutes in net for Belhaven.  Perez took the loss in goal for the Scorpions allowing three goals while making four saves.
 
Belhaven will take the field again on Thursday in the Southern States Athletic Conference opener at Emmanuel College. The kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.