The Muhlenberg men’s soccer team ended years of long, frustrating trips to Baltimore with a 2-1 win at Johns Hopkins on Saturday. It was the first time the Mules defeated Hopkins at Hopkins since 1946.
Here’s the report from that 1946 game, a 4-2 win:
“This match was played on the Johns Hopkins field in Baltimore. It began with the Baltimore Men making a goal on the first play. Soon this maneuver was repeated leaving the Mules on the underside of a 2 to 0 score at the end of the quarter. In the second quarter the cardinal men picked up one goal by the clever kicking of Charlie Campbell on a penelty [sic]. The third quarter resulted in a stalemate but in the last period the big scoring came with the Berg squad picking up three points.”
A lot – including how soccer games are divided into periods and how they’re reported on – has changed since then, and that game, which took place in the fourth season of soccer as a varsity sport at Muhlenberg, has little relevance to the recent Muhlenberg-Hopkins rivalry. After the Mules won nearly 70 years ago, they did not play at Johns Hopkins again until the formation of the Centennial Conference in 1993.
For all practical purposes, Muhlenberg went into Saturday’s game having never beaten Hopkins in Baltimore.
There were a lot of close games – five one-goal losses (one in overtime) and four scoreless ties among the 12 meetings at Homewood Field. Two of the scoreless ties came in the CC playoffs, and naturally the Mules lost on penalty kicks both times.
As it turned out, meeting No. 13 was the lucky one. While late scores were the difference in 1946, this time Muhlenberg (ranked 13th by D3soccer.com) made early goals by Lance Dotzman – now the CC scoring leader – and Travis Wantchekon stand up.
The win was significant regardless of the history, as it came against another regionally ranked team and clinched a CC playoff berth for the Mules.
“Going down to the game on Saturday I wasn’t really aware of the history behind the game,” commented senior goalie Danny Pinto (left). “I did have our more recent history on my mind. I remembered that they came and beat us on our home field last year. That was probably the biggest thing on my mind before the game and how I was looking forward to doing the same to them.
“After the game Coach Topping alerted us to the overall history of the fixture and it added to the satisfaction that the team had in beating Hopkins in Baltimore. It was a great feeling when the buzzer went off, and then it got even sweeter when we found out we ended a long-standing streak of theirs.”
So, in honor of the streak ending and with a tip of the cap to one of Baltimore’s most noted native sons …
And the Mules, after winning, still are grinning, still are grinning
About gaining that elusive win in Baltimore
And their minds dream of a new era beginning
Where Muhlenberg always has the better score
And the “Homewood Hex” and failures in days of yore
Shall be mentioned … Nevermore!
Field Hockey: Four years, four overtime goals … That’s the record of senior Kayleigh Thies, who ended the Mules’ memorable Senior Night win against Gettysburg by scoring with 2:42 left in the first overtime.
Thies’ first career goal came in overtime against Drew as a freshman in 2011 (right), and she added OT winners against Scranton in 2012 and Widener last year.
It should come as no surprise which one she picked as her favorite. “I gotta say that Gettysburg’s was my favorite … Just because it was on my Senior Night, on the home turf, under the lights, and a big conference win!!!”
The four overtime goals tie the school record set by Kelly Gower from 1998 to 2000, and Thies is the first Muhlenberg player to record an overtime goal in four straight seasons.
And it might be a stretch to call overtime goals her “specialty” – after all, she’s scored 33 other goals in regulation, but maybe overtime assists are the specialty of sophomore Emily Boyle. Two of her three career assists came on Thies’ last two overtime goals.
Muhlenberg is 3-0 in overtime games this year. The school record for overtime wins in a season is four, set in 1996.
Football: Muhlenberg features a balanced offense with several players who can put up big numbers. While that does lead to plenty of points and, with the defense the Mules have, big wins, it also means some players can get overshadowed.
Sophomore quarterback Nick Palladino was in the spotlight following Saturday’s 42-13 win against Juniata. He was named Centennial Conference player of the week after throwing for 373 yards – the fifth-highest total in program history – and accounting for four touchdowns. But two of his teammates on offense also had noteworthy performances.
Freshman Max Cepeda rushed 13 times for 116 yards, and senior Cody Geyer (left) caught five passes for 151 yards. It was only the fourth time ever the Mules had a 300-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher and a 150-yard receiver.
Cepeda tied the CC record for 100-yard games by a freshman (five), and it was the third time he reached the century mark in fewer than 15 carries. Before this season, no Muhlenberg back had managed to do that more than once, and now Cepeda has done it three times in the first seven games of his career.
Geyer’s average of 30.2 yards per reception was the second-highest ever by a Muhlenberg player with at least five catches. He gained more than half his yards on one play – a 77-yard catch and run from the Muhlenberg 19 to the Juniata 4 that set up the Mules’ final touchdown. And while that was certainly one of the longest non-scoring pass plays in program history, it wasn’t even the longest non-scoring play of Geyer’s career. Last year, he returned a punt from the Muhlenberg 10 to the Susquehanna 8 – a non-scoring play of 82 yards.