kliewer blasts men’s soccer into playoffs

Volleyball Sweeps Ursinus Like Jess Anselmi, the Muhlenberg volleyball team got off to a slow start against Ursinus in its next-to-last home match of the year. Both straightened themselves out, and the Mules went on to a 3-0 sweep. One of two seniors winding down her career, Anselmi had no kills and three errors in her first eight attempts. Not coincidentally, Muhlenberg (11-18, 3-6) found itself in an early 14-8 hole. But Anselmi recorded four kills with no errors in the second half of the game, and the Mules rallied to win, 30-27. Anselmi (left) finished the match with a team-leading 18 kills, increasing her season total to an even 300. She is the sixth different player in team history to reach that level; the previous five did it a total of 12 times. The other senior, Megan Young, also reached a milestone. She had a match-high 19 digs, becoming the third Mule to register 1,300 in a career. Anselmi and Young ended their careers 4-0 against the Bears, with four 3-0 sweeps. Click here for box score.

Jonathan Kliewer couldn’t have picked a much better time for the best shot of his life.

The senior midfielder blasted a spectacular shot into the goal with 6:35 left in the second overtime to give the Muhlenberg men’s soccer team a 1-0 win at Swarthmore in a key Centennial Conference matchup of regionally ranked teams.

The victory clinched a CC playoff

Of Kliewer’s 10 career goals, four have given Muhlenberg 1-0 wins.

berth for the Mules (11-3, 6-2), who have won six in a row. Muhlenberg is tied with Johns Hopkins for second place in the CC, a game behind Franklin & Marshall, and can avoid a first-round playoff contest with a win or draw against Ursinus in Saturday’s regular-season finale.

The golden goal came after Kliewer received a pass 30 yards from the goal on the right side. He slipped past one defender, then delivered a rocket shot to the top-left corner of the net. The Garnet goalie dove but could not get a touch on the ball.

“I thought it was going to go wide, but it curled in at the last second. I still can’t believe it happened. That was probably the best goal of my life,” said Kliewer, who also scored an overtime game-winner in the first round of the 2004 CC playoffs.

Swarthmore (10-3-3, 4-3-1) entered the game ranked fifth in the Middle Atlantic Region, while the Mules were fourth. They came away with losses on their last two trips to Swarthmore.

“It’s hard to come here and win games,” said Kliewer. “F&M came here; they’re in first place and they lost in OT, so this isn’t a place you can come and win easily.”

Little was easy for either team on a night when wind and rain made for difficult conditions. When the teams managed to string passes together on the slick surface, few shots were on target. Muhlenberg had a shot to win in regulation when it took two corner kicks in the finale minute, but Greg Leischner’s header on the second floated over the crossbar.

“It’s good that we’re definitely in [the playoffs],” said Kliewer. “But we still have to win on Saturday.”
Click here for box score.