Two goals late in the first half were too much to overcome as the Muhlenberg men's soccer team fell to Johns Hopkins, 2-1, in a Centennial Conference semifinal.
The top-seeded Blue Jays (12-4-2) advance to the championship game to face Haverford, a 5-0 winner at Dickinson in the other semi.
The Mules (7-8-3), playing in the CC semis for the fifth consecutive season, conceded the first goal of the game with 9:49 left in the first half and let in another with just 2:48 remaining in the opening period.
Muhlenberg cut the deficit in half 11 minutes into the second half after a header by freshman
Jake Marks missed to the right. The ensuing goal kick was low, and Marks plucked the ball out of the air with his right foot and fired it past the Hopkins goalie for his second goal of the season. It was similar to the Mules' third tally in their 3-1 regular-season win against the Blue Jays, when Marks intercepted a goal kick and fed
Saleem Diakite for a goal.
The Mules took seven more shots but were unable to put any of them on goal, and the Blue Jays - ranked third in Region V by United Soccer Coaches - held on for the victory.
Gabe Blikshteyn (pictured above) was among the six Mules who played in their final game, along with fellow seniors
Eric Armijos,
Danny Patruno, and
Sam Roberts and graduate students
Sim Dorsey and
Lorenzo Vargas-Clarke.
