The senior was involved in both game-winning goals last week as the Royals took over first place in the ODAC standings.  In Wednesday’s dramatic win over Hampden-Sydney, Leap assisted on ‘s (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) game-winning goal in the 69^th minute.

Then on Saturday, Leap scored the game-winner in the 77^th minute on a breakaway shot from the 18.

He is tied for second in the ODAC with eight goals and is second with 18 points.  Leap also tops the league with five game-winning goals.  The forward is on top of all three categories in ODAC-only games.

With the goal at Guilford, Leap took over sole possession of fourth place on EMU’s Career Goals list at 33, ahead of Jeff Shank (1990-93).  His 75 career points has him fifth on that list, behind Shank’s 86.

Eastern Mennonite grabbed first place in the ODAC standings last week with wins over Hampden-Sydney and Guilford.  The Royals, 5-1, have as many wins in ODAC play as they have had since going 7-1-1 in 1998, which is the last time they won the conference tourney.

The men, now 7-6-1 overall, are off until they host Virginia Wesleyan Saturday night as part of EMU’s Homecoming.

The game was light on shots in the opening minutes as the teams established the flow of play.  Starting in the 14^th minute, the Royals started to take over and fired five shots in the span of four minutes.  (Mt. Jackson, VA/Stonewall Jackson) put a pair on goal and the men had a few looks sail wide off breakaways.

After play evened out, Hampden-Sydney struck first in the 36^th minute.  Chris Whiteside sent a long pass ahead to Tiger teammate James Lawrence.  As EMU’s defense stuttered and hoped for an offsides call, Lawrence punched in the shot for a 1-0 lead.

The Royals nearly got an equalizer in the closing seconds of the half, as (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Mennonite) zipped a shot past HSC’s keeper, but it sailed inches wide of the goal.

After a quiet start to the second half, (Addis Abeba, Ethiopia/Lycee Guebre Mariam) triggered an explosion in the 67^th minute.  The speedy forward made a move at the top of the box and fired a shot which went through the keepers hands and tied the score.

Less than two minutes later, the Royals took the lead.  With a mess of players in the box, (Harrisonburg, VA/Eastern Mennonite) shot a loose ball which (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) deflected into the net with his heel.

With 22 minutes still to go, EMU had some time to hold off the Tigers.  The defensive line did well to bend and then send back long clears, while the offense dribbled off the clock.  A hustling (Vienna, VA/James Madison) nearly scored in the final minute, but the men settled for the 2-1 win.

Eastern Mennonite had a 22-12 edge in shots, including 10-4 on goal.  (Virginia Beach, VA/Kempsville) played all 90 minutes in goal and collected three saves.

The Royals improve to 6-6-1 with the win.  More importantly, they tightened their grip on second place in the ODAC standings with a 4-1 mark.  Next up is a date at Guilford this Friday, which is 2-2 in the league after a win 2-0 win over Virginia Wesleyan Tuesday.