Men’s Soccer

• Record: 5-14
• Conference: 0-8
• Goals: 26
• Goals/game: 1.37
• Scoring Leader: Troy Davis (5)
• Assisting Leader: Andy Chappell Deckert (3)
  

EMU’s soccer men held an even 5-5 record at the season’s halfway mark but could not generate effective outcomes from there, losing all nine of their October contests. A 2-1 overtime victory at their Bridgewater rivals highlighted the team’s successes.

The season kicked off with a clash on the turf field against York, a 2-1 loss in double overtime. Junior Troy Davis scored the team’s first goal of the season to tie the game in the first half. In double overtime, York scored with just four minutes left, preventing a potential penalty shootout.

The Royals played a second home game the next day against William Peace, where EMU’s first-years Gabe Nafziger and Kyle Shelton scored in the 12’ and 13’ minutes to put EMU ahead early in a 2-1 win. EMU beat Southern Virginia 1-0 a few days later before dropping four straight, which included a 2-1 overtime home loss to Hood College and a 2-1 home loss to Messiah College at the Rowdy Royals Game.

With a 2-5 record, the Royals faced three road trips. They won all three contests to lift their record to 5-5. Davis, senior Caleb Oakes, and junior Leiyan Kariuki scored in a 3-0 win over Gallaudet. The team went on to score a season-high five goals against Lebanon Valley. Finally, the Royals met their Bridgewater neighbors on the road, where Davis netted both EMU goals in a 2-1 overtime win.

The Royals’ victory at Bridgewater would be their last of the season. The team ran out of gas in October, dropping nine games straight. Seven seniors were honored at the team’s final home game on Oct. 29: Caleb Oakes, Carlos Flores-Melgar, Mathew Zimmerman, Jesus Trejo, Nik Tucker, Juan Vazquez, Ian Bomberger.

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Women’s Soccer

• Record: 10-7-1
• Conference: 4-5-1
• Goals: 26
• Goals/game: 1.44
• Scoring leader: Ariel Barbosa (4)
• Assisting leader: Hannah York (5)

EMU’s soccer women won seven of their first eight games, the best start to a season in program history. The team reached another benchmark with 10 total wins for just the second time since 2006. Senior goalkeeper Leah Wenger anchored nine shutout wins, finishing the year with a career-high in saves (98) and save percentage (.824). Wenger finished her career with 323 total saves, good for fourth-most in program history. A historic season earned the Royals the 9th spot in the ODAC Tournament, where they were bounced in the first round by Lynchburg, 4-0.

The Royals were most effective on their home turf, achieving a 6-2-1 record. The team’s first three games of the year were all home wins: 3-0 versus Marymount, 2-0 versus Averett, and a 1-0 win against St. Mary’s in a Rowdy Royals Game.

A few games later, the Royals edged Southern Virginia on the road in a 1-0 double overtime win, boosting their record to 6-1. Sophomore Chloe Weaver scored with three minutes left in double overtime to secure the road win. Following the shutout, Wenger stood at sixth in the nation among D-III goalkeepers with a .929 save percentage, meaning she had saved about 92 percent of on-target shots from opposing teams.

At the team’s Senior Recognition Game during EMU’s Homecoming Weekend, Wenger, Laura Rittenhouse, Ariel Barbosa, and Emily Hostetler were honored for their EMU soccer careers. The Royals were handed a wakeup call against Lynchburg, a 5-0 loss. Three days later, the Royals responded with urgency against their Hollins visitors, a 6-0 blowout. The team’s final game of the regular season was an 8-0 clobbering of Sweet Briar on the EMU turf.

Ranked ninth in the ensuing ODAC Tournament, EMU could not carry their regular season success into their first contest of the tournament against #8 Lynchburg, a 4-0 defeat. Lynchburg scored twice in each half to knock EMU out of the tournament.

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Cross Country

Men’s Results:

• 3rd of 6
• 1st of 4 (EMU Mennonite Heritage Cross Country Invitational)
• 7th of 10
• 7th of 20
• 1st of 6
• 5th of 12 (ODAC Championships)
• 23rd of 36 (South/Southeast Regional Championships)

Women’s Results:

• 3rd of 9
• 1st of 3 (EMU Mennonite Heritage Cross Country Invitational)
• 9th of 11
• 7th of 17
• 1st of 6
• 4th of 12 (ODAC Championships)
• 24th of 33 (South/Southeast Regional Championships)

Two weeks into the fall semester, EMU’s cross country programs hosted the EMU Mennonite Heritage Invitational, the first meet on EMU’s campus since 2002. The men took first place against four opposing teams, and the women took first against St. Mary’s and Mary Baldwin. On the men’s side, nine of the top 10 runners were Royals. Sophomore Isaac Alderfer came in first place in the 5k with a 16:44.8 run time. He was followed by his first-year teammate Clay Kaufman at 17:05.6, and junior Justice Allen at 17:08.0. Senior Abigail Shelly came in second on the women’s side at 21:16.5, followed by her sophomore sister Allison Shelly in third place at 21:36.6, and junior Elizabeth Miller in fourth place at 21:46.7.

Both the men’s and women’s teams took 1st place again at the CNU Invitational in mid-October, each out-running five opposing teams. In the women’s 6k, Abigail Shelly took second at 24:40.16, Miller third at 25:03.86, and senior Elizabeth Nisly 6th at 25:36.89. With an average time of 25:36.87, the women took first place by 35 seconds ahead of Christopher Newport. In the men’s 8k, Alderfer took seventh with a 27:29.41, Allen ninth with a 27:36.90, and senior Collin Longenecker took 14th, coming in at 28:30.56. The EMU men averaged seven seconds faster than second-place Virginia Wesleyan.

239 runners took part in the men’s 8k at the South/Southeast Regional Championships in Memphis, Tennessee, where the EMU men took 23rd of 36 teams. Alderfer was the fastest running Royal at 26:53.2, a blazing 5.41 average mile. For the Royals, Allen came next at 27:12.1, followed by Kaufman at 28:03.3, sophomore Isaac Andreas at 28:19.9, and first-year Nathan Yoder at 28:35.5. The women achieved 24th of 33 overall in the 6k with a 2:08:30 average time. Miller ran fastest for the Royals coming in at 24:02.3. Senior Megan Good ran 24:52.9, followed by Nisly at 25:08.4, senior Emma Hoover at 27:01.5, and senior Savannah Bontrager at 27:24.2.

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Women’s Triathlon

Best times:

• Abigail Shelly: 1:12:10
• Emma Hoover: 1:16:38
• Leah Lapp: 1:23:11
• Lydia Chappell Deckert: 1:24:08
• Mim Beck: 1:34:16

EMU announced the creation of a women’s triathlon team in March 2019, becoming one of a small handful of D-III schools nationwide to establish such a program. Five women, all seniors, joined the inaugural team: Mim Beck, Lydia Chappell Deckert, Emma Hoover, Leah Lapp, and Abigail Shelly. The triathletes traveled to Bristol, Tenn. to swim, bike and run in the program’s first-ever competition on Sept. 1, and later traveled to compete in three other triathlons in West Virginia, North Carolina, and southern Virginia.

In West Virginia, all but Shelly competed in a “Splash-n-Dash,” a run-and-swim-only meet. Hoover completed the 750m swim and 5k run in 20:48, Chappel Deckert in 22:35, Beck in 23:35 and Lapp in 24:30.

Shelly completed a triathlon in 1:12:10 at the East Regional Qualifier at Smith Mountain Lake State Park to earn a spot in the USAT National Triathlon Championships in Arizona, where she placed 13th among 42 competitors with a time of 1:19:38.

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Women’s Volleyball

• Record: 13-13
• Conference: 4-8
• Kills/set: 10.98
• Blocks/set: 1.51
• Digs/set: 15.51
• Most kills: Hannah Johnson (309)
• Most assists: Tori Wigley (513)
• Most digs: Hannah Johnson (359)
• Most blocks: Andrea Troyer (21 solo, 74 assisted)
  

The volleyball women’s 13-13 record was the program’s best since 2001.

The team’s schedule began with seven straight home matches. The first four were part of the annual Route 42 Classic at EMU, where the Royals earned three wins against Delaware Valley (3-0), Bryn Mawr (3-0), and Salem (3-1). The Royals nearly came out of the tournament with a perfect record but lost by three points in the fifth set in their match against Meredith.

After emerging from the tournament 3-1, the Royals dropped a match to St. Mary’s before going on a four-game win streak, including a 3-1 victory over an ODAC opponent in Hollins.

The Royals traveled to Harrisburg, Pa. mid-season for a tri-match against Gallaudet (3-1 loss) and Penn St. Harrisonburg (3-1 win). Sophomore Hannah Johnson led against Penn St. Harrisonburg with 13 kills while sophomore Tarynn Clark led on defense with 13 digs. The Royals came home with an 8-4 record.

From there, the Royals had roughly one win per two losses. The Royals swept Shenandoah 3-0 on Senior Recognition Night in early October, where Ginny Sorrell, Kara Durren, Abbi Hawkins and Meredith Stinnette were honored for their volleyball careers. Johnson recorded 13 kills and Durren added 8. Sophomore Andrea Troyer notched five blocks in the contest.

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Field Hockey

• Record: 5-13
• Conference: 1-7
• Goals: 38
• Goals/game: 2.1
• Shots/game: 13.9
• Leading scorer: Skylar Hedgepeth (10)
• Assists leader: Lauren Hartzler (7)

The field hockey team began their season with a 6-0 shutout against Lancaster Bible and another 3-0 shutout against Hood. Each of their other three wins throughout the season also came as shutouts: 5-0 at Southern Virginia, 5-0 versus Sweet Briar, and 7-0 versus Ferrum. Midfielder Madeline Mast, the team’s only senior, was honored on Senior Recognition Night in the team’s final game against Shenandoah, a 4-0 loss.

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Men’s Golf

The men’s golf team competed in 4 tournaments in the fall and just one in the spring before their season was cut short.

The fall contests included the Greene Turtle Invitational, the Tom Kinder Memorial at Lakeview Golf Course in Harrisonburg, Va., the Ted Keller Memorial and the VSGA Intercollegiate. The spring contest took place March 9 and 10 at the Hill City Invitational in Lynchburg, Va.

Junior Ben Shenk shot the lowest single round for the Royals through the fall tournaments at 76. Troy Hodge hit a low of 78, and Christopher Elliott hit a low of 80. Sophomore Coy Jimenez and senior Chriss Fenn each hit lows of 84.

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Women’s Golf

In her fall return to the green, senior Olyvia Longacre, the lone golfer on the women’s team, tied for second place in a competition with 62 other golfers. The senior carded a 79 (+7).

Longacre shot rounds of 86 and 85 at her next competition, the Bridgewater Invitational. Longacre took third place at the Randolph-Macon Fall Invitational with two rounds of 85 each. At a single-day, 36-hole tournament in early October, rounds of 87 and 83 earned Longacre seventh place.

EMU’s golfer tied for 16th place out of 33 golfers with a single round of 89 in her final fall tournament, which was cut one day short due to rainfall.

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Men’s Basketball

• Record: 5-20
• Conference: 3-13
• Points per game: 62.9
• Rebounds per game: 35.9
• FG %: 41.6
• FT %: 57.9
• Scoring leader: Tim Jones (387)
• Assists leader: Tim Jones (80)
• Steals leader: Tim Jones (23)
• Blocks leader: DJ Hill (13)
• Rebounds leader: DJ Hill (170)

The Runnin’ Royals were edged out of a spot in the ODAC Tournament after losing their last five games of the year. Late in the season, EMU was in a four-way tie with Shenandoah, Randolph and Emory & Henry for the 10th spot in the tournament. But a 70-61 loss to Virginia Wesleyan in their regular season finale on Feb. 22 capped off a difficult season for the basketball men that included a 0-12 record at home.

From the beginning of the season, the team could not build the momentum they had hoped for, dropping eight of their first nine matches. Their win in that opening spell came against La Roche, an 84-76 road win where junior Tim Jones knocked down 24 points and sophomore Mizz Nyagwegwe hit four of his seven 3-point attempts.

EMU later added wins against Apprentice School (90-80), Shenandoah (80-79), and Randolph (70-63). But the highlight of the year came in an 80-67 on the road at their Bridgewater rivals where the team shot a season-best 53.6% from the floor (30-56 FGs). Jones scored a career-high 27 points, and junior Tie Evans shot 4-5 from beyond the arc while adding six assists.

The team’s lone senior, Jamel Howard, was honored on Feb. 15 in a home game against Ferrum.

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Women’s Basketball

• Record: 4-20
• Conference: 3-15
• Points per game: 58.3
• Rebounds per game: 39.4
• FG %: 33.8
• FT %: 62.4
• Scoring leader: Chloe Roach (292)
• Assists leader: Lexi Deffenbaugh (49)
• Steals leader: Chloe Roach (37)
• Blocks leader: Hailey Page (23)
• Rebounds leader: Chrissy Delawder (173)

EMU’s basketball women finished their season 4-20 overall and 3-15 in ODACs. The team missed the ODAC Tournament after dropping their final two games to Bridgewater and Roanoke. Hovering close to 10th place for weeks, the women hoped to steal the last spot in the tournament which was ultimately filled by Virginia Wesleyan.

The team’s four wins came against Apprentice (65-54), Hollins (77-64), Roanoke (79-67), and Randolph (61-50). The win over Roanoke, EMU’s third of the year, came as a big upset and stood out as one of the team’s season highlights.

Seniors Chrissy Delawder and Lexi Deffenbaugh were honored for their EMU basketball careers minutes before tip-off against Bridgewater on Feb. 19, a tough battle ending in a 90-82 EMU loss.

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Spring Sports Cut Short

Seven spring sports teams were abandoned this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. These include baseball, disc golf, men’s golf, track & field, men’s volleyball, lacrosse, and softball. Athletes on these teams may be eligible to return for an extra year, according to EMU Athletics Director Dave King, who said in a earlier interview that the department is “working out who might be in a position to return again next year.”