Release courtesy of Muhlenberg Athletic Communications
The Muhlenberg men's soccer team went on the road three times in six days and returned home with the ultimate prize: the Centennial Conference championship.
The Mules defeated Johns Hopkins 5-4 in a shootout following a scoreless tie to capture their seventh CC title, their first since 2014, and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Selections and pairings for the NCAAs will be announced on Monday, November 7, at 1:30 Eastern time on ncaa.com.
Freshman goalie Ben Mulford was named tournament MVP after making nine saves in the title game and two more in the shootout. In three tournament games, Mulford stopped 20 shots without allowing a goal.
Sophomore Jake Mendelson, who scored the lone goal in Muhlenberg's first-round win at Gettysburg, ended the title chase by burying his penalty kick in the sixth round of the shootout.
The Mules (8-5-7) became the first fifth seed in CC history to win the men's soccer championship. Although the result of the title game is officially a tie, Muhlenberg is the first CC team ever in any sport to "win" three true road games in the playoffs.
The 19th-ranked Blue Jays (12-1-7) possessed the ball for a good majority of the game, holding the Mules to three shots. But just like Gettysburg in the first round and Franklin & Marshall in the semifinals, they could not get the ball past Mulford, who made four saves in each of the two halves, including one at point blank range early in the second.
For the first time this season, Muhlenberg went to overtime following its school-record seventh tie. Hopkins took the only two shots in the two 10-minute extra sessions, and the title game went to penalties for the first time since 2011.
Each team connected on its first three tries, with sophomore Kevin Adams and seniors Chris Richards and Taylan Akdag converting for the Mules. Mulford, who guessed wrong on only one of the kicks, gave Muhlenberg an opening when he saved the Blue Jays' fourth attempt. But the Johns Hopkins goalie stopped the Mules' next try, and the teams went to the fifth round tied at 3-3.
The Blue Jays were successful, putting the pressure on sophomore Jason Edelstein to keep the shootout, and the Mules' season, alive. He was equal to the task, calmly shooting into the side netting.
Mulford's stop in the first round of sudden-death PKs set the stage for Mendelson's heroics and the wild celebration from a team that was 3-4-3 through 10 games of the season but went 5-1-4 over its next 10 to win the championship.
The shootout win was the first ever for Muhlenberg in a CC playoff game. The Mules had lost on penalties three previous times in the CC playoffs, although their last shootout was a successful one against Catholic in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Muhlenberg is undefeated (9-0-1) in its last 10 postseason games, with two ECAC championships and one CC title.