The Muhlenberg men’s soccer team has excelled defensively for years. The Mules added

Always a tough defender, Smallwood began putting up All-America numbers when he moved from the back line to the midfield.

some offense this year and reaped the benefits: a 9-0 Centennial Conference season, a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Muhlenberg started and ended its perfect CC campaign with wins over defending champion Johns Hopkins. The Mules dominated the then-No. 8 Blue Jays in a 3-1 win Sept. 20 at Varsity Field, then beat them, 2-1, on the same field Nov. 8 to win the conference tournament.

In between, the Mules were dominant, outscoring their CC opponents, 32-4, in regular-season and playoff games. In the NCAAs, Muhlenberg got past Gordon in a shootout and lost to sixth-ranked Stevens Tech to finish 17-5-1 overall. Four of the squad’s losses came to NCAA tournament or nationally ranked teams. The Mules were ranked as high as 16th during the season and received votes in the final national poll.

Senior Evan Smallwood became the eighth Mule ever and first since 1995 to earn All-America honors. He led the offensive charge, scoring 11 goals and

Henning earned Academic All-America honors and received the Garrettson award for his accomplishments on and off the field.

adding nine assists for 31 points. He kept alive the Mule season with a game-winning free kick in the CC final, then again with game-tying and shootout-winning penalty kicks against Gordon.

Sophomore James Henshaw also scored 11, five of which were game-winners. Junior Nick Richardson and sophomore Jose Ramirez scored nine and eight goals, respectively. Smallwood, Henshaw and Ramirez all made the all-conference and all-region first teams.

Senior Justin Marx, who had seven points despite being limited by injury to 14 games played, earned second-team All-CC honors. All together, 14 different Mules accounted for 58 goals.

Muhlenberg did not forget the key to its past success. Its defense was as excellent as usual. The Mules allowed only 16 goals in their 23 games and shut out 12 opponents. Junior Chris Davis recorded six shutouts and made 49 saves. His already minuscule goals-against average shrank to 0.26 in CC play, where he had four shutouts. Davis, senior captain Justin Henning and sophomore Adam Milberg represented the Mule defensive unit on the All-CC team.