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Practice paid off for junior Adrienne Verbich, who accounted for all the scoring with her first career hat trick as the Muhlenberg field hockey team blanked Swarthmore, 3-0, in its final home game of the season.

The Mules (9-6, 4-4) snapped a three-game losing skid and kept their Centennial Conference playoff hopes alive. They are in sixth place with two games remaining, and both games are on the road against teams in front of them, Franklin & Marshall and Washington. The Mules need to win both and get help in order to qualify for the five-team playoff.

Verbich, who entered the game with four career goals, opened the scoring with 11:10 left in the first half. Senior Pamela Coakley send a pass from the wing to classmate Kristen Bruschi, whose shot squirted through the legs of the Garnet goalie. Verbich was behind the goalie to tap the ball in.

The assist gave Bruschi sole possession of first place on the Muhlenberg all-time career list with 17. She had been tied.

Swarthmore (7-7, 2-6) appeared to have tied the game off a penalty corner late in the half, but the goal was disallowed because the shooter was outside the circle.

The second-half goals were near carbon copies of each other, as senior Sarah Fosdick took a penalty corner at the top of the circle and rocketed the ball toward the left side of the cage, where Verbich was there to tip it.

“Adrienne and I have been coming out before practice to work on that,” noted Fosdick. “I would hit the ball and she would work on tipping it in. I’d hit light balls and she’d say ‘hit it harder.’

“It was great to see it work in a game since we practiced it.”

Sophomore Lauren Schram made five saves in her fifth shutout of the season.

Click here for box score.

Junior Julie Lauro knocked down 16 kills to become the program’s all-time leader as the Muhlenberg volleyball team blanked Swarthmore, 3-0.

The win raised the Mules (10-13, 4-4) to .500 in the Centennial Conference

Lauro had a team-high 11 digs against Swarthmore, increasing her career total to 970. She needs 30 more to become the seventh Mule with 1,000 in a career.

after a 1-3 start. Muhlenberg has matches at Franklin & Marshall and Washington in the final week of the regular season as it tries to secure a spot in the five-team CC playoffs.

The Mules played the Garnet (9-16, 2-7) earlier in the season at Moravian’s tournament and had to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win in five. This time around they had a much easier time.

Lauro broke the kills record on her sixth attempt of the match, moving past the 1,336 kills accumulated by Allison Verduin from 1996-99. She finished the day with 1,350 with one more whole season to go.

“I’m very excited about the record,” said Lauro. “It was a big accomplishment, but a team effort.”

One of the teammates who has helped the most is junior setter Mary Henning, who has assisted on many of Lauro’s kills. She had 38 assists to go along with five service aces against Swarthmore.

Sophomore Kate Haggerty also had a big match, with 14 kills, and sophomore Courtney Williams added eight.

Click here for box score.