SCHENECTADY, NY -- The RIT (8-6-1, 4-5-0 Liberty League) men's soccer team closed out the 2018 season in style with a 5-1 win at Union College (7-10-0, 3-7-0 Liberty League) Saturday afternoon. Nate Verso (Souderton, PA/Souderton Area) recorded a hat-trick for the Tigers, while Nick Simone (Hilton, NY/Hilton) had a goal and three assists to finish with five points.

Despite the win, the Tigers narrowly missed out on qualifying for next week's Liberty League Tournament.

Shots were 22-8 in favor of RIT, while the Tigers took nine corner kicks to none for the Dutchmen. Will Sokol (Branchburg, NJ/Somerville) got the win in net, making four saves. Trevor Krupp took the loss for Union, making 13 saves.

Salvadore Lopez gave Union an early lead, scoring in the sixth minute off an assist from Connor Horan to give the Dutchmen a 1-0 advantage. 

Simone tied the game when he converted a penalty kick in the 27th minute, his fourth penalty kick conversion this season. Three minutes later, Verso gave the Tigers its first lead of the game on his first goal of the game in the 30th minute off an assist from Simone. Simon Garno (Hilton, NY/Hilton) took a pass from Simone and Will Schiesswohl (Sussex, NJ/Vernon Township) and scored in the 31st minute to give RIT a 3-1 halftime lead.

Verso scored the first of his two second-half goals in the 53rd minute off an assist from Brett Kaemmerlen (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) to give RIT a 4-1 lead. He capped off the scoring on his third goal of the game in the 75th minute off a feed from Dakota Kegler (Pavilion, NY/Pavilion) to make it 5-1 final.

Verso is the third Tiger player to score a hat-trick this season, joining Jared Short (Grafton, WI/Cedarburg) (Sept. 5 vs. Keuka) and Alec Jackson (Virginia Beach, VA/Landstown) (Sept. 18 at Houghton).

"I am proud of our team's performance today under very challenging conditions," said RIT head coach Bill Garno. "We showed terrific attacking quality after giving up an early goal. It was a great way to send off our seniors."

The Tigers out-scored their opponents, 29-17 on the year. Simone ended the 2018 season with team-high totals of six goals, 13 assists and 26 points. The 13 assists are the second most in one season at RIT, while his 25 points are just outside the top-10.