After winning the Centennial Conference championship, the Muhlenberg men’s soccer team has been rewarded with a home game for the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Mules (13-5) will host Wesleyan (Conn.), champion of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), on Wednesday, November 9, at 5:00. The winner goes on to play Messiah (19-0), the top-ranked team in the country, on Saturday.

Wesleyan (9-5-3) is making its first-ever NCAA appearance. The Cardinals were the seventh seed in the NESCAC playoffs, but upset second-seeded Bowdoin, top-seeded and seventh-ranked Williams and fourth-seeded Amherst to win the championship. Since starting the season 6-2, Wesleyan has only three wins in its last nine games – but those three wins came in the NESCAC tournament.

The Cardinals are led by three players, freshman Matt Nevin, sophomore Brandon Smith and junior Morgan Owen, with six goals apiece. Nevin also

Henshaw, named CC player of the week after recording a goal and two assists in the playoffs, is the only active Muhlenberg player with a goal in an NCAA Tournament game. He gave the Mules a 1-0 lead in their eventual 3-1 second-round loss to Stevens Tech in 2003.

has four assists.

Muhlenberg is in the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time. In the Mules’ previous five berths since the formation of the Centennial Conference in 1993, they advanced past the first round every time but one. In 2003, they advanced on penalty kicks after playing Gordon to a 2-2 tie.

Muhlenberg enters the national tournament on a roll, having outscored its last four opponents by a 12-1 margin. Seeded third in the CC playoffs, the Mules won the title by shutting out second-seeded Swarthmore and fifth-seeded Gettysburg.

Senior Christopher King leads Muhlenberg with 12 goals and 27 points. He and fellow senior Jose Ramirez (five goals, six assists) both scored a goal in each of the Mules’ CC playoff wins. Sophomore Jonathan Kliewer has a team-best seven assists, while senior James Henshaw has four goals and four assists.

Muhlenberg’s only previous game against a NESCAC team came in the “final four” of the 1995 NCAA Tournament, when the Mules played eventual national champion Williams to a 1-1 tie before losing the shootout.

Tickets for the Wesleyan game are $6 for adults, $3 for students with identification and senior citizens, and $2 for children ages 3-12.