In the spirit of Columbus Day, Monday Morning Mule “explores” the playoff scenarios of the Muhlenberg fall teams with three weeks to go in the regular season.
All four Mule teams in sports that have playoff qualification are very much in the thick of things, and three of them have important home contests this week.
Five teams qualify for the playoffs in each sport.
Field Hockey: Muhlenberg (9-2, 5-1) is tied for second place with four remaining league games.
The Mules trail Ursinus (11-1, 7-0), which is ranked in the top 10 in Division III, and are tied with another top-10 team, Franklin & Marshall. They have yet to play either team and are scheduled to face both on the road, F&M this Saturday and Ursinus in the regular-season finale on November 1.
Muhlenberg’s other CC games are at home against Swarthmore (1-12, 0-6) and Gettysburg (3-8, 1-4). Of the four teams with two or three CC losses, the Mules have defeated three.
Women’s Soccer: Muhlenberg (7-3-2, 3-2) is in fifth place at the halfway point of its CC season. The Mules have a crucial week ahead, with home games against 2013 CC finalist Haverford (5-4-2, 1-3) on Tuesday and Franklin & Marshall (1-10, 0-5) on Saturday.
Next week, the Mules have a pair of tough road games against regionally ranked opponents Swarthmore (7-4, 2-3) and Gettysburg (7-3-1, 3-0-1). They finish up at home against Ursinus (5-5-2, 3-1-2).
Of the five teams Muhlenberg has already played, the two it lost to (Johns Hopkins and Dickinson) are a combined 21-3-1, both nationally ranked. Two of its CC wins are against Bryn Mawr and Washington, who are a combined 1-8 in the league.
The Mules’ most noteworthy result is a 1-0 overtime win against McDaniel (7-2-3, 1-1-2); the remaining games, mostly against fellow playoff hopefuls, will determine if they earn their third straight playoff berth.
Men’s Soccer: With four league games remaining, Muhlenberg (8-1-2, 3-1-1) is in sole possession of third place. Two teams are tied for first at 5-0: Franklin & Marshall, to whom the Mules lost in double overtime, and Dickinson, a home opponent on October 29.
Three of the Mules’ remaining CC games are at home; in addition to Dickinson they host Haverford (8-4, 3-2) this Saturday and Ursinus (4-6-2, 1-3-1) in the last game of the regular season on November 1.
The lone road game is at Johns Hopkins (7-3-2, 2-2-1), a place that has not been kind to Muhlenberg, next Saturday.
A win this Saturday against a Haverford team that has been in the CC playoffs each of the last three years would be a huge step for the Mules in what is likely to be a wide-open scramble for playoff berths.
Volleyball: The race for the top seed is shaping up as a three-way competition between Muhlenberg (20-2, 6-0), Swarthmore (15-4, 6-0) and Haverford (15-7, 5-0). All still have to play each other, beginning this Thursday when Haverford visits Memorial Hall.
Swarthmore hosts the other two teams, the Mules next Wednesday and Haverford in the regular-season finale on November 1.
Muhlenberg’s other remaining CC matches are at Gettysburg (15-8, 2-2) and home vs. Ursinus (13-9, 1-5). One CC win should be enough to get the Mules back into the playoffs: Since the CC started a postseason tournament in 1997, only one 7-3 team has failed to qualify, and that was only because it was a four-team playoff field.