defense paves way for mule teams

Bennett’s shutout was the 16th of his career.

Three Muhlenberg fall sports teams that are off to good starts are ranked among the NCAA leaders in defensive categories.

Leading the way is the 3-0 football team, which hosts Johns Hopkins on Saturday in a Homecoming game that will be televised on tape delay by Service Electric TV2. The Mules rank in the top 20 in Division III in five defensive categories. Not including teams that have played just one game, Muhlenberg is third in both scoring defense (4.3 points per game) and total defense (141.3 yards per game), seventh in pass efficiency defense (65.6 rating), 10th in rushing defense (50.3 yards per game) and 18th in sacks per game (4.0). In 2004, the Mules led Division III in total defense.

Senior Peter Bennett, the goalie for the men’s soccer team, ranked 47th in Division III (which has 380 soccer-playing schools) with his goals-against average of 0.66. He lowered that mark to 0.57 with yesterday’s shutout of Dickinson. Bennett and the entire Muhlenberg defense will get quite a challenge at its Homecoming game Saturday night: undefeated Johns Hopkins leads Division III in scoring, averaging 5.3 goals per game.

The field hockey team is 2-0 in the Centennial Conference for the first time, thanks in large part to the efforts of junior Michelle Consiglio, who in her first year as starting goalie posted a goals-against average of 1.16, good for 26th in Division III, through games of last weekend. As a team, the Mules were 32nd out of 156 schools in goals-against average. Consiglio and her teammates face Dickinson Friday night to kick off the weekend of Homecoming athletic events.