Track and field

women’s lacrosse resumes winning ways

Men’s Lacrosse Loses Back-and-Forth Game The Centennial Conference is nothing if not super-competitive in men’s lacrosse. Muhlenberg played its fifth straight CC game decided by two goals or fewer, falling at McDaniel, 12-11. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Mules (3-7, 3-4) and made their playoff prospects less clear. They have one CC game remaining, at home against Ursinus on the last day of the regular season. A final record of 4-4 could be good enough to make the playoffs, depending on how other games go. Muhlenberg went on a 5-1 run – including the first career goal for sophomore Tom Brant – to open up a 6-3 lead with just under five minutes left in the first half. The Green Terror (8-4, 2-3) came back with the next four goals, taking a 7-6 lead and setting the stage for a wild fourth quarter in which each team scored five times. After freshman Clint Watkins tied the score in the first minute of the fourth quarter, McDaniel reeled off the next three goals. The Mules never caught up, although they closed to within one on two occasions, the last time with just a half-second left. Senior Nick Fletcher scored a career-high four goals for the Mules, and sophomore Brent Siebold netted three goals for his second hat trick in three games. Senior Dan Dugan won 11 of 18 faceoffs, assisting teammates for goals after two of them. Click here for box score. Click here for complete stats.

After having its six-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday, the Muhlenberg women’s lacrosse team bounced back nicely, jumping out to an early lead and going on to a key 13-7 home win against Swarthmore.

The Mules (9-2, 5-2) tied the school record they set last year with their fifth Centennial

Senior Megan Wilson reins in one of her five draw controls.

Conference win and solidified their playoff chances. With two games remaining in the regular season, they are alone in third place in the CC. Dickinson and McDaniel are a game back at 4-3, and Ursinus and Haverford are 3-4. Muhlenberg has defeated three of the other four contenders and plays Ursinus on Wednesday.

On the day before Easter, the Mules had plenty of hop in their step in the first half, scoring the first three goals of the game in a span of 79 seconds. Later in the half, senior Sara Hiller netted three consecutive goals in 3:13 to widen the lead to 10-2. Hiller then assisted junior Alyssa Bascelli with 2:26 left in the half, sending Muhlenberg into the locker room with a commanding 11-2 advantage.

But this is a Garnet (8-5, 1-5) squad that knows how to come back. Last week, Swarthmore nearly erased an 8-1 halftime deficit against Ursinus, eventually losing 10-9. And in the last game played between the two teams at Scotty Wood Stadium, the Garnet scored the final seven goals to stun the Mules, 14-13, in 2007.

Swarthmore put Muhlenberg on its heels in the second half and began to chip away at the lead, scoring five straight goals to cut the margin to four with plenty of time (11:52) left. The Mule defense stepped up, however, and kept the Garnet off the board the rest of the game. Sophomore Allisyn Vachon made nine of her 14 saves in the second half, including two big saves on free-position shots with the score 11-7.

Finally, with 46.8 seconds left, Muhlenberg scored its first second-half goal, with freshman Angela Napoletano converting a free-position shot, finishing a possession that started with a caused turnover by senior Farrin Jay.

Napoletano added the final goal of the game off a nice feed from sophomore Christine Van Hise in transition with 11.6 ticks left.

Hiller finished the game with four goals on only five shots, extending her goals-scored streak to 44 games, and sophomore Danielle Rosen also recorded a hat trick with three goals. For the defense, junior Katie Ferris picked up seven ground balls, and junior Ashley Foltiny caused four turnovers.
Click here for box score.
Click here for complete stats.