Men’s Soccer rallies to overwhelm Wilkes

For the first time this season, the Muhlenberg men’s soccer team was held scoreless for an entire half Wednesday night.

Despite outshooting visiting Wilkes 11-1 in the opening period, including a pair of shots that ricocheted off the post, the Mules left the field at halftime locked in the scoreless tie.

Cecconi’s goal against Wilkes was the third of his career.

But Muhlenberg displayed

Click above to see the video of Way’s second goal.

increased intensity out of the break and quickly broke the tie seven minutes into the second half when Danny Way buried a perfect cross from Mike Williams into a wide-open net.

Way added a second goal less than four minutes later when he took a pass from Steve Giannacio just outside the box, turned and beat the keeper, putting the Mules up 2-0 in the 55th minute.

“The first one was pretty easy, Mikey made a great pass to the front of the net and I just had to run it through,” Way said. “The second one Steve just got me the ball and I turned and saw the goalie was a little out of position so I just ripped it. It felt pretty good.”

The Mules added two more goals, a flying header from Matt Cecconi off of a Tim Leischner corner kick and another highlight-reel shot by Cody Antonini, his fifth of the season, to put the Colonels away 4-0.

With his assist Wednesday night, Mike Williams tied his career high for points in a season with six.

Way, who now has three goals on the year, said the key to the second half was playing with a quicker tempo. He said the Mules started the first half sluggish, but were able to pick up the pace in the second half, which generated better scoring opportunities. Muhlenberg outshot Wilkes 28-2.

“We came out a little slow in the beginning; we weren’t getting the best shots,” he said. “At halftime coach Topping told us just to keep the ball moving fast because we were slow in the beginning. They came out with good intensity at the beginning of the game but then we just came out with more in the second half and it all worked out.”

The win was extra special for Cecconi. The Kingston, Pa. native grew up less than five minutes away from Wilkes’ campus and knows several of the Colonel players. He said it always feels odd battling against players he calls friends, but at the same time said he was glad to get revenge for Wilkes’ 2008 upset over the Mules at Varsity Field.

“It’s kind of weird because it feels like I’m playing against my home team when we play them,” Cecconi said. “I played with a lot of their guys in high school and I know their coach; I was recruited there. So it’s a bittersweet feeling to beat them, but it definitely feels great and to get that goal made it even better.”

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