NASHVILLE, TENN. - - First-half goals by juniors Navarda Heath and Mete Ozkan lifted the Belmont men’s soccer team to its first Atlantic Sun victory of the season with a 2-0 victory over Mercer at the Whitten Soccer Complex in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday afternoon.

The win improves Belmont’s record to 4-6-2 overall and 1-3-1 in the Atlantic Sun while Mercer drops to 5-9-0 and 1-5-0 in conference play.

The Bruins nearly scored its first goal of the match in the 20th minute when senior Derrick Henry attempted a shot within the left side of the penalty box towards an open net but a Mercer defender blocked the shot at the goal-line to keep the game scoreless.

In the 32nd minute, Heath gained possession of a misplayed ball by Mercer’s goalkeeper David Bird outside of the right side of the penalty box and placed a shot in the empty net to make the score, 1-0, in favor of the Bruins. It was Heath’s first goal of the season.

Belmont got its other goal of the match in the 44th minute as Ozkan retrieved a loose ball at the right corner of the penalty box and bent his shot past the goalkeeper for his second tally of the season.

For the match, Belmont led in shots attempted, 8-6, but Mercer attempted more corner kicks, 3-2.

Sophomore Ron Gravely notched his conference-leading fourth shutout of the season with three saves for the win.

"Today was a terrific result for us,” said Belmont’s head coach, Earle Davidson. “We were missing some players today and the substitutes performed very well.

“We had two opportunistic chances in the first half and took advantage of them with goals.”

The win snaps a five-match winless streak and a three-match losing streak. Belmont’s last win was a 2-1 overtime home victory over Central Arkansas on Sept. 21.

“We’ve played well in our conference matches, but have just been unlucky,” said Davidson. “Things have turned around for us.”

The Bruins will return to action on Oct. 19 at Stetson in another A-Sun matchup in DeLand, Fla. beginning at 6:00 p.m.