The Muhlenberg men's lacrosse team scored six seconds into the game and never looked back, defeating McDaniel 17-4 in its last game of the regular season.

The win, combined with Gettysburg's 16-12 win at Ursinus, put the Mules (9-5, 5-3) into the Centennial Conference playoffs for the second time in program history. Muhlenberg is the third seed in the CC playoffs and will travel to Gettysburg for a semifinal game on Wednesday.

The Mules will enter the playoffs with, statistically, the stingiest defense in the CC. In eight CC games, Muhlenberg allowed a league-low 62 goals, one fewer than Gettysburg.

In the finale against McDaniel, Muhlenberg's defense scored as many goals as it allowed. Junior defensive middie Cooper Richards scored a pair of goals, while senior longstick middie Maxwell Seeber and sophomore defenseman Matthew Regan netted one apiece as the Mules set a school record for largest margin of victory in a CC game. 

Muhlenberg got plenty of production from its more traditional sources of offense as well. Graduate student Ethan Grossman scored four goals and dished out an assist to increase his career point total to 248 - eighth in CC history and more than twice as much as the previous school record for career points (123).

Junior Jack Kraemer netted two goals, including the 50th of his career, and was one of 12 different Mules to find the back of the net.

Since the Gettysburg win came in a noon game, Muhlenberg took the field for its 3:00 contest knowing that all it needed to do to clinch the playoff berth was defeat the Green Terror (4-13, 0-8), and it didn't take long for the Mules to take a commanding lead. They scored on their first three possessions, taking a 3-0 lead in just 66 seconds.

Graduate student Matt Burke scored off the opening faceoff for the second time this season. After Burke won the next faceoff, junior James Dalimonte took a shot that was saved, but Grossman was there to put in the rebound. Faceoff wings Cooper and Seeber teamed up for a goal just 17 seconds later.

Burke finished 16-of-22 on faceoffs and picked up 12 ground balls, two short of his career high.

Muhlenberg added another trio of goals in quick order later in the quarter, with Dalimonte, Richards and Regan scoring in a span of 61 seconds. 

The Mules led 7-2 at the end of the quarter and 14-3 at halftime, tying the school record for goals in a half set earlier this season at Sewanee. Muhlenberg had a 32-8 advantage in shots at halftime and played its younger players for the entire second half.

Prior to the game, the Mules honored their graduating class of seniors Matt Marrella, Kyle Lando, Seeber and Brett Friedman and graduate student Joe Sokolowski.