Dale’s Game-Winner Caps Furious Rally in TU’s Fourth-Straight Win

Broadcast Highlights | Dale's Game-Winning Goal | Craig's 200th Career Point

UPLAND, Ind. – Jackson Dale capped his third hat trick of the season on a game-winning strike with just three seconds left in Saturday's contest against RV Madonna, as Taylor thrilled the home crowd with a 13-12 win over the Crusaders at Wheeler Field.

The win was a program-best fourth-straight victory for Taylor, with the last two coming over teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top-10 Poll. In addition to helping the Trojans to the team history, Aidan Craig also achieved a personal milestone, reaching and surpassing the 200-point mark for his career as the first Trojan to accomplish that feat.

The historic afternoon turned in Taylor's favor with an eight-goal outburst over the final 15 minutes, after the Trojans had been locked in a defensive battle with Madonna (4-3, 0-1 WHAC) over the first three periods.

Taylor opened well with back-to-back goals from Reid Gerig for an early 2-0 lead, but a series of turnovers limited TU's chances the rest of the half and the visitors held a 4-3 lead at the break.

The lead swelled to 8-5 for Madonna by the end of the third, and another Crusader tally put TU in a 9-5 deficit with under 10 minutes remaining.

A pair of Carter Prieditis goals brought the Trojans back to life and ignited the decisive, game-changing, rally. The first Prieditis goal was assisted by Dale, and then 50 seconds later, Prieditis intercepted a pass deep in MU territory and stuck it past the Crusader keeper to trim the gap to 9-7.

Both offenses surged to life over the final minutes, with the sides trading goals to push the score to 11-9 with just over six minutes on the clock. TU kept pace with unassisted scores from Craig and Carlton Best.

Taylor finally drew even on a pair of Craig-assisted goals, with Prieditis finding the net for a man-up strike at the 3:21 mark and Dale scoring the equalizer 30 seconds later to draw the Trojans even at 11-11.

Madonna reclaimed the lead with a goal at the 1:39 mark, but Taylor refused to be denied, and got the game-tying goal from Caleb Williams 27 seconds later.

That set the stage for the Dale heroics, as Best won the faceoff to set the table and Williams eventually hit a charging Dale who put the game winner just inside the near post with three seconds left as he was being taken to the ground.

The Dale score capped the 13-12 win for Taylor, as the Trojans closed the game on a 5-1 charge over the final 6:06 of game action and outscored Madonna by an 8-4 margin over the fourth period.

Dale closed the afternoon with three goals, one assist, three ground balls and three caused turnovers to highlight a full list of individual standouts for the Trojans.

Craig was equally as impressive, adding one goal, six assists, six ground balls and three caused turnovers. In addition to recording his 200th point on an assist to Gerig in the third period, Craig moved within 17 assists of the all-time WHAC record of 175.

Other offensive standouts included Prieditis with three goals and eight ground balls, Gerig with three scores and Williams with one goal and two assists.

The Taylor defense forced 16 Madonna turnovers, led by four ground balls and a trio of caused turnovers by Ethan Andrews, while Ben Harrell kept the Trojans in the game with several point-blank saves and ended with 13.

Best set the stage for it all with his work in the face-off game, winning 15 of his 25 attempts.

Taylor (4-4, 1-0 WHAC) will return to action on Wednesday, March 27, when it hosts No. 8 Indiana Tech (1-5, 0-1 WHAC) for a 3:00 pm start at Wheeler Field.