The Muhlenberg men's soccer team scored four straight second-half goals after trailing defending Centennial Conference champion Haverford 5-0 but fell just short of equalizing as the Fords held on for a 5-4 win.
The Fords (9-2-2, 6-0 CC), ranked 17th in the NSCAA coaches poll and 18th by D3soccer.com, scored three first-half goals and two more in the first one and a half minutes of the second period. The Mules (3-7-3, 1-4-1 CC) then tallied four goals in 13 minutes to make it a one-score difference with seven minutes remaining.
Senior back
Jack Dusing started Muhlenberg's rally when he was fouled in the box off a corner kick from
Anthony Carracino. Dusing's ensuing penalty kick shot was ripped into the back left corner for his first goal of the season and the second of his career.
Seven minutes later, Mules junior back
Jan Chmura fired a shot that the Haverford goalkeeper saved. The rebound went straight to freshman forward
Pete Luther, who fired it in for his team-leading sixth goal this season.
Senior forward
Nick Sarkos (pictured above) made the next big play for Muhlenberg two minutes later. Dribbling along the left side of the box, he got around his defender and beat the keeper to the right to score his first goal of the season as well, making it 5-3 with less than 21 minutes to play.
The fourth goal for Muhlenberg came in the 83rd minute. Sarkos crossed a ball into the box that found freshman back
Matthew Athanas-Linden, who flicked the ball further forward to sophomore midfielder
Christian Wieand. Wieand got a foot on the ball in front of the keeper to tap it into the goal and cut the deficit to one.
The Mules had one final shot in the last minute to tie the match, as Luther maneuvered through the defense to position himself for a shot off a cross, but a Haverford defender knocked the ball away before it could cross the goal line.
It was the first time Muhlenberg played a match where both teams scored at least four goals since the team tied FDU-Madison 4-4 back in 1981.
Freshman goalkeeper
Alex Tomko made one save for Muhlenberg in the match.
