News and notes about Muhlenberg athletics
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FOOTBALL EARNS ECAC BID
Following its most successful regular season in 20 years,
the 8-2 Muhlenberg football team has received a bid to the ECAC Southwest
Championships and will host Wilkes in a one-game playoff on Saturday,
November 18.  The postseason bid is only the second in the 99-year
history of the Muhlenberg program. Wilkes (5-5), the defending ECAC
Southeast champ, enters the game with four losses in its last five
outings. Although the two schools have met only once in the regular season
(a 34-12 Wilkes win in 1965), they scrimmage each other prior to the start
of every season. The Division III ECAC Football championships consist of
four regional games. The other three are Ursinus at King’s
(Southeast), Hartwick at Buffalo State (Northwest) and Nichols at
Western Connecticut State (Northeast).
BERNARDO PLAYER OF WEEK
Freshman running back Matt Bernardo shared Centennial Conference offensive
player of the week honors after
rushing for 251 yards and four touchdowns in the regular-season finale
against Moravian. The effort was Bernardo’s second 200-yard game
in three career starts, and the four TDs brought his season total to a
school record-tying 16. He is the first Muhlenberg player and only
the second freshman to lead the CC in scoring for a season. Bernardo
shared the award with Dennis Flaherty of Gettysburg.
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Friday, November 17
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Muhlenberg 77, Washington
& Jefferson 41. Coach Tammy Smith picked up
her 100th career victory as the Mules won their season opener in the
first round of the Scotty Wood Tournament. The Mules
shot 42
percent and a strong defensive effort held the Presidents to 26 percent.
Senior Val Uras canned 3 of 4 three-pointers and finished with 10
points. Senior Jessica Drennan added 10 points and grabbed a team-high 6
rebounds, while senior Jenn Risley had a team-high 11 points on 4 of 6
shooting. Muhlenberg was able to play all 15 of its team members and
freshmen Erin DeVaney, Lindsay Tis, Susan Marchiano and Amber Nelson all
scored their first career points. The Mules will take on Middlebury, 59-46
victors over Richard Stockton, in the championship game. Click here for box score.
MEN’S BASKETBALL Muhlenberg 73, Wentworth
Tech 64. Sophomore Aaron Holden scored a career-high 19 points to lead the
Mules into the championship game of the Scotty Wood Tournament for the
18th straight year. Muhlenberg trailed, 45-37, with 12:27 to go in the
first half, but Holden’s layup kicked off a 14-0 run that clinched the
game. Sophomore Toomey Anderson scored five of his career-high 15 points
in the run. Junior Michael Barletta hit two long three-pointers down the
stretch and tied a career-best with 16 points. Sophomore John Ström
also hit double figures with 11 points and added a team-high 7 rebounds.
In the other first-round game, Salisbury State advanced to the final by
defeating Allentown, 73-57. Click here for
box score.
Saturday, November 18
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Middlebury 66, Muhlenberg
60. Muhlenberg lost to Middlebury in a hard-fought Scotty Wood
Tournament championship game. Senior Jessica Drennan had game-highs in
both points, with 18, and
rebounds, with 12. Junior Lindsay St. Lawrence added 17 and junior Jenn
Risley added 14. Freshman Amber Nelson had a strong game in only her
second appearance, scroring 8 points and grabbing 4 rebounds. Risley and
Drennan were both named to the All-Tournament Team. Click here for box score.
MEN’S BASKETBALL Salisbury State 81,
Muhlenberg 78. Salisbury State drilled a three-pointer with three
seconds remaining to capture the Scotty Wood Tournament championship in a
thrilling final that featured 16 lead changes. The Mules trailed by
five at the two-minute mark, but tied the
score on long threes by sophomore Michael Rossmell and
junior Michael
Barletta, the latter with 26 seconds to play. Both Rossmell (career-high
19 points) and Barletta (12) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Sophomores Anthony Strachan and John Ström also hit career highs in
points with 19 and 13, respectively. Click
here for box score.
FOOTBALL Muhlenberg 26, Wilkes 22. Muhlenberg
defeated Wilkes to win the ECAC Division III Southwest Football
Championship and tie the school record for wins in a season (9). Freshman
Matt Bernardo was named MVP after rushing for 69 yards and the first
three Mule touchdowns. The
first of his touchdowns came with less than a minute and a half into the
game, when he took it 42 yards to give the Mules a 7-0 lead. Bernardo
added two more rushing touchdowns, of 13 and 7 yards
respectively, to give the Mules a 19-10 halftime lead. Wilkes made the
game interesting by scoring two
fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Colonels, however, failed on both a
two-point
conversion and an extra point and the score remained 26-22. The Muhlenberg
defense was spearheaded by junior defensive end Richard Zrebiec, whose
four sacks
in his first career start set a Muhlenberg single-game record. Sophomore
linebacker Beau Sherry led
the Mules with 11 tackles, senior David Jones and junior Doug Folger
had 9 tackles each. In total, the stingy defense accounted for 8 sacks, 12
tackles for loss and an interception by senior Mike Burke at his own
14-yard line. Click here
for box score.
WRESTLING finished seventh at Oneonta State’s
Red Dragon Invitational. The Mules had five placewinners in their second
tournament of the season. Junior Bill Holsinger finished second at 149;
sophomores Nate Yeasted (133) and Joe Salerno (157) took thirds;
senior Jason McLean was fifth at 141; and senior Dan Ochoa placed sixth at
174. Click here for Muhlenberg
results.
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