A volleyball tournament, two home women’s soccer games and a home field hockey game make for a busy weekend at Muhlenberg, while football and men’s soccer travel north.
Volleyball hosts Buttermaker Tournament: vs. FDU-Florham (Friday, 3:00); vs. Rutgers-Camden (Friday, 7:00); opponents TBD (Saturday, 10:00 and 2:00)
The 17th Buttermaker Tournament features visiting teams from as close as Bethlehem (Moravian) and as far away as Winchester, Va. (Shenandoah). Allegheny, Baruch, DeSales and Elizabethtown round out the nine-team field.
Muhlenberg (3-1), coming off a strong showing at Gettysburg last weekend, is seeking its first Buttermaker title since 2005. Each of the last two years, the Mules went 2-0 on the first day of the tournament but 0-2 on the second
Live stats (all Muhlenberg matches) | Live video (all Muhlenberg matches) | Tournament page
Women’s Soccer vs. Delaware Valley (Friday, 7:00) and vs. Gwynedd Mercy (Saturday, 6:00)
The regionally ranked Mules (2-0) play home games on back-to-back days for the second straight weekend. Last weekend, they defeated Wilkes and Marywood to open a season with two shutout wins for the first time since 1999.
Muhlenberg has never started with more than two shutout wins; in 1991, their first varsity season, the Mules blanked their first four opponents, but one of the games was a scoreless draw.
Muhlenberg scored 2-0 wins against both Delaware Valley (1-1) and Gwynedd Mercy (1-2) last year.
Field Hockey vs. Elizabethtown (Saturday, 1:00)
Fresh off its win against third-ranked Montclair State, Muhlenberg hosts another team that has not shied away from tough competition: Elizabethtown opened the season with one-goal losses to No. 8 Franklin & Marshall and No. 12 Messiah.
Elizabethtown (14-6 last year) is part of an opening four-game stretch for the Mules against teams that combined for a .783 winning percentage in 2013.
The Blue Jays hold a 9-6-2 series lead and have won the last three meetings, scoring two goals in a span of less than three minutes to turn a 1-0 second-half deficit into a 2-1 victory last year.
Football at Wilkes (Saturday, 1:00)
Muhlenberg opens its 113th season of football with an interesting matchup against Wilkes. Although the teams haven’t played each other since 2009, there will be plenty of familiarity: The Colonels’ new head coach is Trey Brown, the quarterbacks coach and special teams coordinator for the Mules for the last four years.
Muhlenberg returns most of its starting lineup from a 2013 squad that went 8-3 and earned an ECAC bowl bid. The Mules, ranked in the top 20 by Lindy’s and Sporting News, were picked second in the Centennial Conference preseason poll.
Wilkes, 4-6 last year, was eighth in the Middle Atlantic Conference preseason poll.
Men’s Soccer at Marywood (Saturday, 4:00)
The regionally ranked Mules (2-0) hit the road for the first time this year in a rematch of last year’s ECAC Tournament first-round game, which Muhlenberg won, 2-0.
Wilkes was the last opponent for both teams. Muhlenberg won, 4-0, and Marywood (0-1-1) lost, 4-1.