ANDERSON, S.C. -- Paulo Passini scored on a header at the 19:13 mark and Preston Freeman made four saves to lead Anderson University to a 1-0 victory over Belmont Abbey in a Conference Carolinas match Wednesday night at Smethers Field. Anderson is now 4-7 overall and 3-2 in the conference, while Belmont Abbey falls to 8-5, 3-2. "This is a huge win and a real confidence builder for us," said Anderson head coach Rob Miller, who will celebrate his 40th birthday on Thursday. "We play well at home. This keeps us in the hunt for conference tournament, but we've got two tough road matches coming up. "We had a lot of guys show a lot of heart tonight. Our goalkeeper came up big, and our work rate was good. We stayed in it and played it out." Anderson scored the lone goal of the match when Lahnden Onger played a waist-high ball into the box from the left wing that Passini managed to get his head on and bump it into the middle of the Belmont Abbey net. The goal was Passini's second of the season and his first game-winning goal. From that point, Freeman, a freshman from Ashland, Ky., and the Anderson defense did the rest. Freeman made a couple of brilliant stops, including a dive to knock a shot wide in the 74th minute. Belmont Abbey took 11 shots, while Anderson managed nine. Belmont Abbey goalkeeper Bryan Alenky also made four saves. Anderson University Men's Soccer Statistics