Our new feature takes a look at some weekend leftovers and previews the upcoming week.
This week marks the beginning of Centennial Conference play for most teams.
Soccer: It’s been a great start for the Mule soccer teams. The women are 5-0, tying the best start in program history, while the men are 4-0 and received votes in last week’s NSCAA Division III poll.
Muhlenberg is one of only four schools in Division III whose men’s and women’s soccer teams are undefeated and untied at this stage in the season. The others are Luther, Messiah and Tufts.
How long can the Mule soccer teams keep it up? It will be quite the challenge once they start playing CC games regularly. (The men open Saturday at home against McDaniel, and the women, who played an early league game last week at Bryn Mawr, also host McDaniel on Saturday.)
The 11 CC women’s teams have a combined record of 33-18-2 (.642), with Dickinson, McDaniel and Haverford joining Muhlenberg in the undefeated ranks. And Johns Hopkins (5-2) is ranked in the top 20 in Division III.
The CC men’s teams have done even better, going 9-0 on Saturday to improve their combined record to an amazing 38-8-2 (.813). Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, Johns Hopkins, Gettysburg, Swarthmore and Muhlenberg are all receiving votes in at least one of the Division III polls.
Volleyball: The 10-2 Mules, off to their best start in 20 years, have a huge opening week of CC play. On Wednesday, they host defending regular-season champion Franklin & Marshall, which has won 15 consecutive regular-season CC matches. On Saturday, they welcome McDaniel in a rematch of last year’s CC semifinal, won by Muhlenberg.
As in soccer, CC volleyball teams have fared very well in the opening part of the season, setting up what should be a competitive league race. CC teams are a combined 69-38 (.645).
Muhlenberg went 3-1 at Neumann’s tournament over the weekend, and it was announced yesterday that junior Katherine Boll was named to the all-tournament team. It was the third straight all-tournament nod this season for Boll, who leads the CC in blocks (38) and is second in hitting percentage (.371).
Field Hockey: The CC … you guessed it … is strong in field hockey too, with every team except 0-6 Swarthmore at .500 or better. Muhlenberg (3-1) opens at McDaniel (3-2) on Friday night.
The Mules’ success this season has been fueled by their defense, which is very apparent if you look at their scores. They have allowed only three goals in four games; the last time they started a season giving up no more than one goal in their first four games was 1991.
The defense looks even more impressive when you look at the opponents’ scores. Take away the Muhlenberg games, and Scranton, Montclair State, Elizabethtown and Drew have combined to score 64 goals in 17 games, an average of 3.8 goals per game.