EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's soccer team fell victim to a late goal in a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Muhlenberg in Wednesday's non-conference finale.
In a game with several promising chances on both sides, the Mules broke a scoreless deadlock with 4:32 remaining in regulation to hand the Lions (1-8-4) a hard-luck defeat.
Logan Gebhart made a career-high seven saves – including several highlight-worthy stops – for TCNJ, which went toe to toe with a Muhlenberg squad that has played for the last two Centennial Conference titles and made the NCAA Tournament second round in 2022.
J.J. Zaun forced a diving save with a lunging left-footed effort just shy of the 25-minute mark, the first real chance for either side.
The Mules (7-2-3) nearly got on the board two minutes later but were thwarted by an incredible effort from Gebhart, who raced over to deflect a shot from the doorstep. Gebhart made another instinctual play later in the half, racing off his line to get in front of a Muhlenberg player who had been played in behind the Lions defense.
TCNJ came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock in the 53
rd minute.
Chris Meder got into the box, and his bouncing shot was tipped by Muhlenberg keeper Ben Mulford. The ball squirted loose and rolled toward the right post, where
Daniel Grund nearly chased it down before a Mule defender narrowly got there first. With the ball still in play,
Mike Garofalo teed up Zaun, but the junior dragged his right-footed effort inches wide of the left post.
Gebhart denied the Mules a few minutes later, getting his fingertips on a hard shot from just outside the 6-yard box and tipping it over the crossbar for a corner.
Muhlenberg thought it had the icebreaker near the midway point of the second half, but the officials ruled no goal on a shot from the edge of the box that hit the underside of the bar and bounced down.
TCNJ had a chance in the 74
th minute, when
Julien Carraha played a perfect cross for fellow senior
Mike Garofalo, who rushed in but could not quite get his volley down and had it saved by Mulford. Meder had a go from the edge of the box in the 79
th minute, but his rocket shot sailed a couple feet over the bar.
Gebhart stonewalled the Mules once more in the 82
nd minute, diving to his left to deny an uncontested header off a free kick.
Danny Hyde made a brilliant defensive play minutes later, sliding to block a shot from just outside the 6-yard box after the ball had fallen for a wide-open Mule.
Muhlenberg finally got on the board with 4:32 to play, when Gabe Blikshteyn finished a cross from Sim Dorsey with a shot that took a deflection and sailed into the back of the net.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Muhlenberg had solid advantages in shots (15-8) and corners, but shots were just 7-6 in the visitors' favor in a back-and-forth second half
- Blikshteyn led the Mules with four shots, with 10 teammates adding between one and two attempts
- Meder accounted for half of TCNJ's eight shots, while Zaun took two
NOTES
UP NEXT
- The Lions return to NJAC play at home against Ramapo on Saturday
