Freshman Jackson Taylor (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) scored a hat trick as the soccer men picked up a much-needed 4-1 win over fourth-place Randolph-Macon Wednesday night at home.  Eastern Mennonite dominated the second half in earning three points in the ODAC standings.

With the win, the men move to 2-4-2 and into a three-way tie for eighth place in the conference with just three games left in the season.

Taylor highlighted a great team effort against the Yellow Jackets.  After giving up a penalty kick in the 35th minute, EMU answered quickly as Taylor settled a cross from Juan Luna (Mount Jackson, Va./Stonewall Jackson) before hitting the lower right of the net for the equalizer.

The 1-1 score stayed until 10 minutes into to the second half.  Luna and Dominic Powers (Culpeper, Va./Fiesta Valley) connected on a give-and-go, with Luna scoring his third of the season to put the Royals up 2-1.

Taylor took over from there.  He dove past a defender for a beautiful header on a pin-point cross from Jake Lind (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) in the 65 minute.  The trifecta came in the 82nd minute, as he smashed in his own rebounded shot on a breakaway for the final 4-1 margin.

It was the first hat trick for the soccer men since Christian Rhine did it in a 3-2 overtime win over Randolph-Macon in 2012.

Despite being out-shot, EMU had an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal.  The Royals' back line frustrated R-MC all night, blocking many of their shots.  Daniel Nyce (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) picked up three saves in goal.

Although Eastern Mennonite is 2-1-1 against the ODAC's second through fifth place teams, the men will get a big test on Saturday when they head to first place Washington and Lee.  Game time with the Generals (7-0-1 ODAC) in Lexington is at 11:00am.

Coach Roger Mast said Taylor's hat trick was just as impressive as his team's effort: