Field hockey wins ECAC Championship match

Field hockey may not have won the Centennial Conference Championship, but they recently earned the title as ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) Champions on Sunday, the first postseason tournament win since 1989.

After a tough and heartbreaking loss against Franklin and Marshall in the conference tournament, the Mules received an ECAC bid and a second chance.

The Mules were the second seed in Region One of the ECAC tournament and their fist matchup was against third seed Albright. Muhlenberg dominated the first half of the game, outshooting Albright 11-0. But it wouldn’t be until the second half in the 58th minute of play that the Mules to score. Taylor Smith ‘17 scored on an assist from fellow teammate Alexandria DeAngelo ‘18. Ten minutes later Albright came back to tie it and the game went into overtime.

Unfortunately for Albright, they accidentally scored a goal for Muhlenberg only 44 seconds into the overtime period, giving Muhlenberg the win 2-1. Muhlenberg moved on to the semifinals against Alvernia.

Both Muhlenberg and Alvernia only had three losses for their seasons, so it was going to be an even competition. Neither team scored throughout the entire first or second half until the referee called a penalty with no more time left on the clock. Emily Boyle ’17 received the chance to take the penalty stroke and score the winning goal. She lined up her shot and fired. The goalie stepped up for the save as the ball hit her hand blocker and it flew over her shoulder into the back of the net. With the 1-0 win over Alvernia, they were headed to the championship game.

The championship match was set for Sunday against Kean, and the Muhlenberg seniors went out with a bang. Rachel Strow started the scoring for the Mules in the sixth minute of the game on an assist from Boyle. Strow has scored a total of 21 goals this season

The rest of the first half was a bit slow, with each team taking four or fewer shots on goal. The Mules’ defense had a strong first half and kept Kean’s attacks at bay, as goalie Emma Rosenthal ’18 didn’t have to make a single save.

Muhlenberg headed into the second half with an insecure 1-0 lead, and the offense needed to come out with a strong performance if the team wanted to win. Boyle scored her eleventh goal of the season under three minutes into the second half to give the Mules an extra buffer to work with.

However, Smith wasn’t happy with a two-goal lead, and 50 seconds later, Smith received a pass from Stephi Rydgren ’19 and took a swing at the ball, which ended up in the left corner of the cage to make the score 3-0.

Down 3-0, Kean began to put on the pressure and outshot Muhlenberg 7-4 and earned penalty corner after penalty corner. Despite having a total of nine penalty corner chances in the second half, Kean was unable to beat the Mules’ defense.

The final whistle blew and the Mules could finally call themselves champions. The win can be attributed to great performances from its seniors, three of which scored the three goals for Muhlenberg. Boyles was named the tournament MVP, while four other players, Laura Holdman ’18, Rosenthal, Strow, and Smith, all earned a spot on the tournament’s all-tournament’s team.

The team ended their season with an 18-3 record, of which eleven of those were shutouts. The Mules outscored their opponents 61-19 throughout the entire regular and postseason.

What a way for the team and these seniors to go out with a championship, they have a lot to be proud of.