Warm weather produced hot shooters for the Muhlenberg women’s lacrosse team, as it handily defeated Neumann, 18-6, on senior night in the teams’ first ever matchup.

With the win, seniors Katie Reimann and Kelli Sakonchick will graduate from Muhlenberg as the winningest class in school history with 32 victories,

MEN’S GOLF IMPROVES ON SECOND DAY The Muhlenberg men’s golf team stepped up its game on the second day of the Glenmaura National Collegiate Invitational. On their last day of competition before the Centennial Conference Championships, the Mules improved their team score from the first round by 16 strokes, moving up one spot to seventh in the standings. Two Muhlenberg players – junior Garrett Carpenter and sophomore Josh Shantzer – bettered their scores by at least 10 strokes; Carpenter’s 13-stroke jump (from 90 to 77) was among the best in the field. Freshman Biff Slocum shot a 78 for the second straight day to lead the Mules with 156 for the tournament. Click here for box score. Click here for complete results.

while the team finishes its season with nine wins, just one shy of the school record.

“Going into this game, we didn’t even know that we might come out of it as the winningest class,” Sakonchick said. “Knowing that now, this win means that much more.”

From the moment Reimann and Sakonchick were honored in a pre-game ceremony, until

In addition to her 79 caused turnovers, Sakonchick also picked up 127 ground balls in her career.

the final buzzer sounded, it was clear that this team wanted to break out of its three-game slump and go out on a high note for its seniors.

“It was great to see the way everyone worked together in our last game,” Reimann said. “Many of our goals were assisted, so it shows how well we were moving the ball and finding each other on offense.”

The Mules opened the game with a 3-0 lead in the first 2:34 and took an 11-1 advantage into the locker room.

Junior Taylor Armstrong recorded all three of her assists on consecutive goals in the first half – two by sophomore Sara Hiller and another by Reimann.

Hiller stayed hot in the second half, scoring three more of her career-high six goals in the first 5:22 of the period, and each of those goals was assisted by freshman Amanda McGovern. Hiller’s seven points on the game were also a career-best and put her over the 40-point mark for the season, making this the first time in Muhlenberg history that four players (Hiller, Reimann, Armstrong and sophomore Ruth Morrongiello) reached the mark in the same season.

As the second half came to a close, Muhlenberg head coach Kristen Stuckel put Sakonchick – normally a defensive player – on offense to try to get her to score. Sakonchick made a few nice moves, but she was unable to put the ball in the net. Instead, she ended her career in a way that is more fitting to her aggressive style of play: she received a yellow card and was forced to spend the final 45.7 seconds of her career on the bench. When she got there, however, she was greeted by appreciative cheers from her teammates and fans.

Sakonchick finished the game with five ground balls and four caused turnovers, while Reimann scored one goal and assisted on another and recorded three ground balls and three draw controls.

In addition to becoming the winningest class in school history, Sakonchick and Reimann will be remembered for other reasons, as well. Sakonchick graduates from Muhlenberg in third place all-time with 79 caused turnovers. Reimann, on the other hand, finishes her career among the all-time leaders in three categories, including third in career assists (52).

But when it comes down to it, these unselfish young women care more about their team than their individual stats.

“Our program has grown so much since we came in as freshmen,” Reimann said. “The fact that we’ve been able to help the team grow to get to this level is really special.”

Click here for box score.