Category Archives: soccer

Athletes of the Week

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Every Sunday or Monday, we’ll pick a male and female athlete of the week from the games of the previous week. Here are our first two honorees for the 2011-12 year:

Female Athlete of the Week – Samantha Mayden, Cross Country

Mayden was the top Division III finisher at the Lehigh Invitational, coming in seventh out of 89 runners. She improved her time from the same meet last year by almost two minutes and led the Mules to wins against local rivals DeSales and Moravian.

 

Male Athlete of the Week – Kyle Plifka, Soccer

Plifka helped the Mules to a 2-0 opening weekend. In the season opener against Cortland State, he scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the first half, then preserved Muhlenberg’s 3-2 lead by heading a ball out of the goal. The Plifka-led defense also shut out DeSales, which had scored five goals the previous day.

Opening Weekend

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It’s Friday, Friday, and everybody’s looking forward to the weekend, weekend – and looking forward to another year of Muhlenberg athletics! Seven Mule teams open up this weekend, and here’s a preview:

There’s no better way to start a season than with a game between two NCAA Tournament teams, and there are two of them on tap this weekend.

Football at Delaware Valley (Saturday, 1:00)

Both teams earned their conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last year, and both lost to national semifinalists (Muhlenberg to Wesley, Delaware Valley to Mt. Union). Both teams return veteran, stingy defenses, but while the Mules bring back a good chunk of their offense, the Aggies graduated nine offensive starters, including seven all-conference players. Delaware Valley won last year’s game, 27-7.

Live stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/delval/football/

Live audio (WMUH): http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/stream.html

Men’s Soccer vs. DeSales (Saturday, 6:00)

The two Lehigh Valley school have developed a nice rivalry over the years – it doesn’t hurt that both teams are usually very good. DeSales lost to Swarthmore in the first round of the NCAAs last year, and Muhlenberg made it to the “Sweet 16.” The Mules, who also host Cortland State on Friday at 6:00, lead the all-time series 15-2-2 and have won the last four meetings.

Live stats (both games): www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/msoclive/xlive.htm

Live video (both games): www.livestream.com/muhlenberg

In other action this weekend:

Field Hockey at Scranton (Friday, 5:00) and Elizabethtown (Saturday, 2:00)

For the first time since 2000, the Mules open a season with back-to-back road games. Scranton was 7-12 last year, and Elizabethtown was 14-5. 

Scranton game live stats: http://athletics.scranton.edu/livestats/landing

E-town game live stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/etown/fhockey/

Women’s Soccer at Kean Classic (vs. Richard Stockton, Saturday, 2:00; vs. Kean, Sunday, 1:00)

The Mules take on a couple of teams from the New Jersey Athletic Conference to start their season. In 2010, Richard Stockton was 13-8-2, and Kean went 9-6-4, including a 3-2 win against the Mules.

Live stats (both games): http://sidearmstats.com/kean/wsoc/

Live video (Kean game only):  http://www.keanathletics.com/general_news/012309live

Volleyball at Marietta’s River City Classic (vs. Oberlin, Friday, 5:00; vs. Kenyon, Friday, 8:00; vs. Marietta, Saturday, 11:30; vs. Methodist, Saturday, 1:00)

The volleyball team travels to Ohio for a season-opening tournament.

Tournament updates: http://pioneers.marietta.edu/sports/2010/8/3/WVB_11RiverCityTournament.aspx?path=wvball

Live stats (match vs. Marietta only): http://www.sidearmstats.com/marietta/wvball/

Cross Country at Lehigh Invitational

All but one of the Mules’ seven meets this year are in the Lehigh Valley, and this is the first.