The Muhlenberg men's soccer erupted for four second-half goals and went on to defeat Juniata, 4-2, in its first game of the 2022 season.

The win was the 200th in the career of Sean Topping '98, who one game into his 20th season as head coach has a stellar career record of 200-116-36. He is the seventh coach in Muhlenberg athletic history to win 200 games in one sport. One of the other six is his predecessor, Jeff Tipping, who claimed 225 victories from 1986 to 2001. Men's soccer is the only sport at Muhlenberg with two 200-win head coaches.

A flurry of goals at the start of the second half fueled the milestone win.

Less than two minutes after the intermission, senior Taylan Akdag converted a cross from classmate Francois D'Elia to break a scoreless deadlock.

Juniata tied the score on a long free kick four minutes later, but the Mules regained the lead less than nine minutes later after senior Chris Richards was taken down in the box. Richards nailed the penalty kick for his 20th career goal.

It took fewer than three minutes for Muhlenberg to open up its first two-goal lead. Akdag beat an Eagle back to a long kick from junior Zack Mikuta and then beat the Eagle goalie for his second goal of the game. It was the third career multiple-goal game for Akdag, who has netted 13 points in his last four games.

The pace slowed down considerably after the stretch of four goals in 15:37, and the score remained 3-1 until Juniata drew within one off a long throw with 4:18 to play.

The Mules responded quickly, putting the game away just 34 seconds later when senior Brandin Osborne finished off a pass from sophomore Jason Edelstein.

Muhlenberg has now won eight straight season openers.