Even though they knew by game time that they were locked into the No. 8 seed in next week's ODAC Tournament, EMU's soccer men didn't mess around in their season finale Saturday night.  The Royals scored twice in the first 21 minutes en route to a 3-0 drubbing of Hampden-Sydney on Senior Night in Harrisonburg.

Eastern Mennonite ends the regular season at 6-11-2 overall and hold the final spot in the eight-team ODAC Tournament at 4-5-2.  The Royals will head to No. 1 seed Washington and Lee on Tuesday, playing at 2:00pm.  W&L went undefeated in conference play through the regular season, including a 3-0 decision over EMU last Saturday, and finishing 10-0-1.

The Royals are peaking at the right time, having won three of their last four games heading into the postseason.  They have scored 11 goals to go with a pair of shutouts in that span.

Click here for the official release of the ODAC Men's Soccer Tournament field, including a link to an interactive bracket.

Despite celebrating Senior Night before taking on Hampden-Sydney, it was the freshman who benefitted on the field.  All three goals were scored by first-year players, starting with Dominic Powers (Culpeper, Va./Fiesta Valley) in the 12th minute.  Pushing it up on a breakaway, Powers followed up his own shot attempt and knocked in the rebound for his first collegiate score.

Dave Drafton (Alexandria, Va./Howard Gardner) copied the trick nine minutes later.  The speedy forward took a nice pass up the right side, cut in past his defender, and scored the first goal of his college career.

After being out-shot 8-2 in the first, the Tigers stepped up their pressure in the second half and Adam Christensen nearly scored in the 64th minute on a breakaway.  As Christensen popped loose behind the defense, keeper Daniel Nyce (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) charged out of the box to disrupt the play.  The move threw Christiansen off his line enough that by the time he re-set and shot at the open goal, defender Ryan Thomas (Telford, Pa./Christopher Dock) was able to slide in and knock the sure goal out of bounds.

Jackson Taylor (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) then provided the final tally in the 84th minute.  A long pass up the left to Taylor ended up at the feet of an H-SC defender, but Jackson pestered him into a turnover and immediately launched an upper-90 shot from the corner of the box for his fifth goal of the year.

EMU had an 18-10 advantage in shots, although just 8-7 on goal.  Nyce finished with six saves, while Thomas had the team save.

Senior Recognition Night
The Royals honored their four seniors before the start of the game: midfielders Jake Lind (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) and Jonathan Bush (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts), along with defenders Seth Suttles (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) and Derek Harnish (Strasburg, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg).  Along with being vital components to what the men have done on the field, all four are also ODAC All-Academic Team and Royals All-Academic Team members.

Coach Roger Mast said his four seniors have really triggered the success of his younger players this season: