DeLAND, Fla. — Junior forward
Juan Ballas found the net twice in the second half, but Stetson scored the most goals against the Bellarmine University men's soccer team in the Division-I era in defeating the Knights 4-2 on Saturday night in ASUN action at the Athletic Training Center.
The most goals Bellarmine (6-6-1, 2-4 ASUN) had previously allowed since entering D1 last season was during a 3-0 loss to Belmont in the inaugural year when the Knights played a man down for 80 minutes. Bellarmine played a man down against Stetson (7-5-2, 4-2) for the last 15 minutes, but the damage had been done by that point, although it diminished the Knights' hopes of continuing their comeback.
Bellarmine had as many shots — two — as Stetson did goals in the first half. The Hatters got on the board in the 34th minute and added another in the 44th to take a commanding 2-0 lead into the break.
Stetson pushed its advantage to 3-0 after scoring again in the 53rd minute, but Bellarmine, which created considerably more chances in the second half, rallied behind a pair of goals by Ballas.
The first came in the 54th minute. Ballas finished a pass off a header from senior midfielder
Micah Linscott after a free kick by senior midfielder
Greg Fischer.
Ballas cut the deficit to 3-2 about six minutes later. Junior midfielder
Haziq Zed headed a service from senior defender
Nate Girao to Ballas, who poked in his fourth goal of the season.
Stetson managed to halt Bellarmine's momentum roughly three minutes later when it bumped its advantage back to two goals at 4-2. That would be the final score of the night — after the teams had combined for four goals in a little over 10 minutes.
Stetson finished with a 13-12 advantage in shots, including 8-7 on frame. In addition to Ballas' goals, the Knights hit the post multiple times in the second half.
Bellarmine plays a nonconference game at 7 p.m. (ET) Tuesday at Kentucky.
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