EMU scored first against regionally ranked Randolph College Saturday night in Harrisonburg, but a pair of second-half goals gave the WildCats a 3-1 decision.
EMU’s soccer men even out at 5-5-2 with their fourth straight loss, including 0-2-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Royals remain at home, hosting Lynchburg Tuesday night at 7:00pm. Due to the ODAC’s unbalanced schedule this year, the contest with LC will not count towards the league record.
Eastern Mennonite had the leg up for the first half of the first period, putting three shots on goal before finally breaking through in the 22nd minute. After a corner kick, defender Ryan Thomas (Telford, Pa./Christopher Dock) pushed the ball back in to Parker Leap (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite), who hit the right side of the net to give the men a 1-0 lead. It was Leap’s sixth score of the season.
But the WildCats got a surprise equalizer less than a minute later, as Nate Juth caught a lull in the defense to make it 1-1.
The score remained tied until Randolph’s Adam Watson struck in the second half. Twice he pushed around a defender to get a clear shot for a score, giving the WildCats their first lead in the 54th minute and adding insurance in the 71st.
EMU had plenty of looks on offense, with Leap and Dominic Powers (Culpeper, Va./Fresta Valley Christian) taking most of the attempts, but they couldn’t make a late comeback.
Randolph had a slight 18-15 shot advantage and each team put seven on goal. Leap and Powers each took four shots for EMU. Leading scorer Juan Luna (Mount Jackson, Va./Stonewall Jackson) missed the second half because of illness.
Keeper Matthew Overacker (Mount Crawford, Va./Turner Ashby) made four saves.
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