The Muhlenberg men’s soccer team has gotten off to a strong start to their fall 2024 campaign. Prior to games played against DeSales University and Kean University this past week, Muhlenberg held a 2-1-1 record.
Last Wednesday, the Mules traveled to DeSales University, an in-state and out-of-conference opponent. Muhlenberg outshot the Bulldogs 25-7 and hit multiple posts throughout the match. Following a Muhlenberg handball, DeSales capitalized to take a 1-0 lead in the first half. This goal turned out to be the lone goal of the game. Despite all of their high-quality chances offensively, Muhlenberg couldn’t put the ball in the net and came up with an unfortunate defeat.
During this past weekend, the Muhlenberg men’s soccer team responded with an impressive win over Kean University, another out-of-conference opponent. Owen Zoeller ‘28 scored the only goal of the game as the Mules struck gold with 57 seconds left in the contest. Zoeller’s first career goal was all Muhlenberg needed as their strong defensive play held Kean scoreless. Muhlenberg outshot Kean 14-8 in the winning effort. Gabriel Blikshteyn ‘27 and Sim Dorsey ‘26 led the Mules in shots with three and four shots respectively. As a result of the victory, the men’s soccer team improved to a 3-2-1 record on the season.
There were many positive takeaways from these two competitive games. Zoeller felt inspired by the team’s play and commented on the current state of the team. “The main positive takeaway from the last two games is that we only conceded one goal from a penalty kick in both games that were on the road which is difficult to do. Another positive takeaway is that we were able to bounce back from a very disappointing loss by winning a game on the road which helps us build some resilience within our team.”
Zoeller elaborated, “A key aspect of the game to improve on as a team is creating chances to score goals and taking advantage of those opportunities by scoring goals collectively. We feel like we are a hard team to break down defensively and we know we are capable of doing a good job possessing the ball. We just need to focus on winning games that we should by putting goals away.”
“A key aspect of the game to improve on as a team is creating chances to score goals” – Owen Zoeller ’28
Kevin Adams ‘25 acknowledged the team’s defensive play and determination by stating. “Our resilience as a team is definitely a positive takeaway from the last two games. Even when we are losing or up against the clock, the entire team continues to fight until the last second which is really encouraging to see. Our defense has done a really good job holding it down and limiting chances.”
While the Mules’ defense has been strong, offensively, the team is aware of the need to capitalize on scoring opportunities. Adams further elaborated by talking about the team’s offense. “Scoring goals is the main thing we need to improve on. It is always easier said than done, but we’ve struggled in the past few games with finishing our chances in front of the goal. I have a lot of confidence in our attackers and goal scorers and I know that they will step up in the upcoming games.”
Many new players have been stepping up this season for the Mules as they enter a season full of change. Adams discussed this when considering the outlook of the team going into the rest of the season. “Last year’s team was a very veteran group, having four fifth-year guys and a lot of seniors contributing big minutes. This year we have a great mix of youth and experience and I think that mix has helped us come together nicely as a group both on and off the field.”
With nine out of their twelve remaining games against teams in the Centennial Conference, now is the time for Muhlenberg to show their team’s strength. The Mules’ next contest comes Friday, Sept. 20, when they battle Johns Hopkins in their Centennial Conference opener on Varsity Field.
 and Kean University (sat.) last week and split the games, losing on Wednesday and winning on Saturday){kind=link}