ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Evan Cope scored three times, and Eastern University Men's Soccer a huge three points in the MAC Commonwealth standings with a 4-1 win over the visiting Lebanon College Dutchmen. 

Though the Eagles (5-7-1, 2-2)  finished with a 22-to-10 edge in shots, the home side needed several outstanding plays from first-year goalkeeper Ty Bleiler. The first of those came 21 minutes into a scoreless match. After an Eastern foul at the edge of the box, the Dutchmen ran a restart play for a hard curling shot just under the bar. Bleiler sprawled to push the ball into the bar and somehow kept the shot out of the net. 

Less than a minute later, the Eagles broke through. Andrew Potter found space on the right side and curled a cross toward the back post. Cope found space between two LVC backs and nodded home his seventh goal of the year. The Eagles dominated possession and had a few more shots through the remainder of the first half, but the teams went to the locker room with Eastern holding a one-goal lead.

That advantage, however, was short-lived. The visitors found their target forward with a ball over the top, and Nathan Prex leveled the score just 90 seconds into a second half where Bleiler and the Eastern back row was going to have to look into a blinding sun. 

The Eagles grabbed the lead back in the 52nd minute after Aidan Link drew a foul in the middle of the field. Though the location of the kick seemed innocuous, the Eagles brought numbers into the box. Link bent a ball over the LVC back row. Cope timed his run into the space between the goalkeeper and the back row and skimmed a header just under the bar for a 2-0 lead. 

The Dutchmen (6-6-2, 1-1-2) had a tremendous chance to equalize on a ball over the top after an Eastern corner kick in the 68th minute. Anderson Velozwong brought down the long pass with a perfect first touch. Bleiler read it well and charged off his line to block the shot at close range. 

Again, the Eastern offense seemed to feed off the play at the other end. Emmanuel Hewitt, who had just come on, collected a ball under pressure on the left side and served a bent ball to the back post. Ryan Jammes attacked the ball with full commitment. His powerful header glanced off an LVC defender an into the top of the net.  

Cope completed his second hat trick in the 83rd minute on another strong run up the flanks by Hewitt. After beating his player deep toward the left corner, Hewitt cut the ball back to his top leg and played a low ball to the far post with his right foot. Cope again timed his run and redirected the cross for the important insurance goal. 

"I'm very proud of how we played today," Head Coach Glodi Konga said. "We came out very organized and stopped them from playing through us. The midfielders moved the ball very well, creating a great goal. We kept our composure after they equalized and pushed for more goals. Evan was outstanding again with his clinical finishing. This was an all-around excellent team win to prepare us for the big game away this weekend."

The win moves the Eagles ahead of the Dutchmen in the standings and gives them a potentially important tiebreaker at the midpoint of the league season. Eastern will be at Messiah University on Saturday.