The Muhlenberg men's soccer team continued its run of success at Franklin & Marshall, coming from behind for a 2-1 win in its Centennial Conference opener.

It was the fourth straight year that the Mules defeated the Diplomats in Lancaster. The last three, however, came in the semifinals of the CC playoffs when F&M was ranked in the top 20 in Division III. Muhlenberg hadn't defeated F&M in the regular season since 2013 and hadn't won a regular-season game at F&M since 2009.

Since the start of the 2022 season, the Diplomats have lost only five games at home - four of them to Muhlenberg.

The Mules (4-0-3, 1-0) fell into an early 1-0 hole when the Diplomats (1-5-1, 0-1) scored just 11:22 into the game. The defense pitched a shutout the rest of the game, however, with senior Ben Mulford recording five saves, including a leaping stop of a shot off a corner kick late in the first half. 

Muhlenberg drew level with less than 10 minutes left in the first half after senior Elie Khalil intercepted an attempted clearing pass by a Diplomat back. Khalil passed off to junior Gabe Blikshteyn, who found sophomore Saleem Diakite on his right. Diakite dribbled through the box on the right side and had the ball tackled away by an F&M player, but got it back immediately and fired a shot inside the far post for his first goal of the season.

Early in the second half, F&M was called for a hand ball in the box off a left-footed chip by Blikshteyn. Senior Sebastian Tis (pictured above) converted the penalty kick for his fourth career goal.

The Mules are undefeated through seven games for the first time since 2014, when they started 7-0-2.