Box Score MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Belhaven men's soccer team had its hopes for at least a share of the Southern States Athletic Conference regular season title dashed on Saturday afternoon in a 4-2 loss at Auburn University-Montgomery. The Blazers, ranked 17th in the latest NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, finished fourth in the league standings while the Warhawks claimed the outright title and top seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

Belhaven (12-5-1, 8-3 SSAC) fell into an early hole when Auburn-Montgomery (13-5-0, 10-1-0 SSAC) notched the first two scores of the game. A foul in the box by the Blazers setup a penalty kick for Yannic Fallack, resulting in a 1-0 Warhawk lead 23 minutes into the contest.

Auburn-Montgomery tacked on its second first half goal right before the horn. Elvar Sigurdsson sliced his way through the Belhaven defense and positioned himself within striking distance of the goal. Teammate Alan Harwell threaded the pass to Sigurdsson who tucked the shot into the corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.

The Warhawks carried the momentum into the break and then through the majority of the second half until the Blazers spoiled the shutout with Lucas Befi's sixth goal of the season. He was aided on the play by Eduardo Cruz who picked up his fifth assist in 2013 in the 83rd minute.

All of sudden the Blazers were back in the match only down one score at 2-1 with seven minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the excitement was short lived as AUM struck back two minutes later. Harwell recorded his first goal of the game in the 85th minute on an unassisted shot that snuck past Belhaven goalie Carl Blundell.

In the face of adversity down 3-1, the Blazers continued to fight thanks to Cruz who blasted his team leading eighth goal of the season in the back of the net just out of the reach of Warhawk net minder Vignir Johannesson. The goal came in the 86th minute leaving some time left to possibly strike again.

However, that game tying goal would never materialize and instead it would be the Warhawks capping the match with goal number four to ice away the victory. Harwell did the honors for AUM in the 88th minute and Christian Holthaus set him up for the shot with a precision pass through Belhaven defense. The Warhawks held off the Blazers in the final two minutes to secure the 4-2 win.

Cruz had a solid all around game for Belhaven with one of the two goals and an assist on the other. Befi paced the team in shots with three and had the other score on the afternoon. Auburn-Montgomery enjoyed the advantage in total shots at 14-12 with nine of them being on goal. Blundell stopped five during the 90 minutes, but the other four slipped past and into the net.

Sigurdsson led all players with five shots for the Warhawks, collecting one goal for his efforts. Johannesson earned the win in net for AUM with two saves in 90:00 minutes.

The Blazers will now turn their attention to the postseason and the SSAC tournament which gets underway next Saturday. Belhaven will be the fourth seed and host fifth seeded Southern Wesleyan University. The Blazers won the first matchup this season between the two clubs on September 21st, a 6-0 decision at H.T. Newell Field.

Saturday's kickoff time is still to be determined.