BELMONT, N.C. (September 22, 2009) – Belmont Abbey College midfielder James Lawrence Forbes scored twice, while senior forward Emmanual Yamson recorded a goal and two assists as the Crusaders men's soccer team recorded a 5-0 win over the visiting Queens University of Charlotte Royals this afternoon at Alumni Field. The margin of victory is the Abbey's largest over the Royals (surpassing a pair of 3-1 wins) and is just the sixth win over Queens, and the second-straight, in the series history. The Royals dip to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in Conference Carolinas, while Belmont Abbey moves to 3-3-1 overall and 1-1 in Conference Carolinas. The win is the 499th in the history of the Abbey men's soccer program, which began in 1958.
The Royals struggled against the Abbey from start to finish, allowing them to zoom to a 2-0 halftime lead as they outshot Queens 8-3 in the stanza. Senior midfielder Adrian Mendoza put the Abbey up 1-0 at the 22:53 mark, one-timing a failed Royals clear from 20 yards into the lower right corner of the net.
Five minutes later, Yamson made it 2-0, gathering the ball at the top of the 18 yard box, with his back to the goal, spinning and lofting a high arcing shot past Chris Raines (Aurora, Colo., Cherokee Trail) for the score.
Shortly after the halftime intermission, Forbes scored the first of his two goals, using an assist from Yamson, who streaked down the left side, beat his man to the goal line just left of the goal and sent a cross that Raines dropped. Forbes was there unmarked for the easy tap in to up the Abbey lead to 3-0.
Six minutes later, Forbes struck again with the help of Yamson and Devin Purslow on a give and go. Purslow sent a long pass forward to Forbes, who fed Yamson with a one-touch. Yamson one-touched it right back to Forbes, who streaked in and blasted a shot past Raines for the fourth goal of the game.
In the 70th minute, freshman Jose Penaloza closed the scoring with a tally similar to Forbes's first. Matt Powell streaked down the left side and sent a cross to Penaloza at the center of the box, where he fired home the winner to increase the lead to 5-0, which was the final.
Belmont Abbey outshot the Royals 15-11 and held a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. Louis Liberatore made three saves in 69:58 before giving way to Brandon Alvarez, who collected one in the final 20:02. Forsan Radwan (Richmond, Va., James River) led the Royals in shots taken with seven. Raines finished the game with two saves before being relieved by John Rush (Jacksonville, Fla., Bolles) who had one save.
Queens is back in action on Saturday against Limestone College at 4:30 p.m. Saturday is also the grand opening of the Queens Sports Complex.
