Transcript Academic All-District selections for Muhlenberg in the decade. The Academic All-District teams are voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America, with first-team honorees advancing.

66
Academic All-District
selections for Muhlenberg
in the decade. The
Academic All-District
teams are voted on by
members of the College
Sports Information
Directors of America, with
first-team honorees
advancing to the national
ballot for Academic AllAmerica honors. Of the
66, 14 went on to become Academic AllAmericans, including first-team selections
David Vassilaros (soccer, 2002), Jason
Finkelstein (cross country/track, 2006)
and Jake Floyd (football, 2009).
65
Height, in inches, of Katrina Beck’s school-record
indoor high jump in 2001. Beck won seven
Centennial Conference gold medals in the high
jump from 1998 to 2001, becoming the first female
athlete in CC history to win the same indoor event
four times. In 2001, she was the first Mule female to
participate in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships.
64
Uniform number of two of the football
team’s top offensive linemen of the
decade.
(left) Mike Nolan
(2005-08) was a
three-time first-team
All-Centennial
Conference
selection and a
2008 preseason AllAmerican.
(right) Chris
Radomski (200003) was named a
third-team AllAmerican and
played in the Aztec
Bowl, a senior allstar game in
Mexico, in 2003.
63-18-4
Record of the women’s soccer team from 2000 to
2003, including a 36-3-1 mark in Centennial
Conference games. The Mules won the CC title in
2000, 2001 and 2003. The 2000 squad featured
Alissa Desiderio, the program’s first CC player of
the year and All-American.
The 2003 team (left) was
ranked 23rd in the final
Division III poll.
63-13
Score of one of the football team’s
most impressive wins of the
decade, at Hartwick in 2001.
Hartwick came in 6-2 and with the
10th-ranked passing offense in
Division III, but the Mules allowed
only 18 completions in 55 attempts
and picked off six passes, including
a Centennial Conference-record
four by Erik Hammar. The 63
points and 50-point margin of
victory were the most for
Muhlenberg since 1947.
62.95
School-record time in the 400-meter
intermediate hurdles for Danielle
Seiler in 2006. The school record when
Seiler came to Muhlenberg was 69.94.
Seiler, the women’s track athlete of
the decade, won the 400 hurdles at
the Centennial Conference
Championships all four years. She also
took gold in the 400 meters a total of
four times indoors and outdoors and
was named Most Outstanding
Performer at the 2005 outdoor meet.
Seiler is the only female in Mule track
history to compete in the NCAA
Championships three times.
62
Total points scored in the last two
sets of the volleyball team’s
regular-season finale against
Gettysburg in 2009. The Mules
won 40 of the points, taking the
sets 25-14 and 15-8 for a 3-2 win
that earned them a Centennial
Conference playoff berth. The
Bullets came in with a sevenmatch winning streak and had
won all but one of the previous
24 meetings with Muhlenberg.
Brittany Williams had 14 kills
and 15 digs in the match.
61
Combined wins for Nate Yeasted in 2000-01 and 2001-02,
when he became the first Mule wrestler to win 30 bouts in backto-back seasons. He won the Centennial Conference title both
years and was named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the 2001
championship meet. In 2003, Yeasted won a third CC crown and
went on to earn All-America honors, finishing seventh at 141
pounds at the NCAA Championships. His final career record
was 96-44.
60.7
School-record career completion percentage
for Eric Santagato, the football player of
the decade. A three-year starter at
quarterback, Santagato helmed the Mules to
their first two outright Centennial Conference
championships in 2007 and 2008. His record
as a starter was 25-8, including a 20-3 mark
in the two championship seasons.
Santagato also holds school records for
efficiency rating in a career (135.3) and
completion percentage in a season (.632)
and a game (.905). He finished second in
Muhlenberg history and fourth in CC history
with 6,152 passing yards and added 704
yards and 21 touchdowns rushing.
59
School-record career goals for Dawn
Iberer (2000-03), the women’s soccer
player of the decade. A four-time firstteam All-Centennial Conference
forward, Iberer is the Mules’ career
leader with 134 points. She was named
to the All-America second team in 2001
and earned all-region honors three
years.
Iberer led Muhlenberg to its first three
CC titles in her four years, scoring the
lone goal in the 2001 CC championship
game. She scored five goals in six
career NCAA Tournament games.
58-57
Score of the women’s basketball
win at Bowdoin in the second
round of the 2009 NCAA
Tournament. The victory pushed
the Mules into the “Sweet 16” for
the first time in history.
Bowdoin had never lost a home game in the
postseason before. The Polar Bears entered the
game 31-0 all-time in NCAA and conference
tournament home games and were 103-5 at Morrell
Gymnasium over the previous seven years.
Muhlenberg led 58-48 with just over five minutes
remaining, then had to sweat it out as Bowdoin
missed a potential game-winning shot in the final
few seconds.
57
Seconds into overtime for Lauren Rutt
to score the winning goal in the field
hockey team’s regular-season finale
against Gettysburg in 2007. The win
clinched a Centennial Conference
playoff berth for the Mules.
The Bullets came into the game ranked
19th in Division III and took a 1-0 lead
midway through the first half of a game
played in pouring rain. Muhlenberg,
which had lost its three previous CC
games to nationally ranked teams, tied
the score early in the second half.
56-6
Score of the football team’s first-ever NCAA
Tournament game, against Mass.-Dartmouth
in 2002.
The Corsairs came in having allowed only 80
points all season (first in Division III), but
Muhlenberg amassed 529 total
yards, including 417 on the
ground. The Mules also forced
four turnovers and held the
Corsairs to 36 total yards in the
second half. Christopher Brown
scored two of the Mules’ seven
rushing touchdowns, and head
coach Mike Donnelly enjoyed an
on-field shower as the final
seconds ticked away.
55
School-record career extra-base hits (20
doubles, 18 triples, 17 home runs) for
baseball standout Christian Conti (200609). His career slugging percentage was
a school-record .669.
Conti began his Muhlenberg career as a
wild pitcher before emerging as a hitter
midway through his sophomore year. In
2008, he was named Centennial
Conference player of the year after hitting
.380 and setting school records for runs
(49), triples (11), home runs (11), RBI
(60), extra-base hits (29) and total bases
(116). Believed to be the second player in
Division III history to reach double figures
in home runs and triples, he led the
country in triples per game.
54
Consecutive games hitting a three-pointer for
Gwen Doyle. The streak, the longest of its kind in
Centennial Conference women’s basketball
history, began late in Doyle’s sophomore season
and carried through the end of her career in 2005.
Doyle is the Mules’ career leader with 186 threepointers made, 123 of which came during the
streak. She set a school record with nine threes in
one game against Haverford in 2004.
53
Runs scored by the baseball team in a threegame series vs. Hartwick in 2007. As hard as
that might be to imagine, try this: The Mules
scored only seven runs in one of the games —
and that was the only one of the three they won.
The wild series began with the third-highestscoring nine-inning game in Division III history.
Muhlenberg scored seven runs in one inning
and eight in another but still lost, 30-25. The
next day, the Mules trailed 19-4 in the fifth
before rallying to lose 22-21. They took the
second game of the doubleheader, 7-5. Normal?
No way. The winning runs scored on back-toback inside-the-park home runs.
The three games featured 110 runs and 107 hits. Pete Oris drove in seven
runs in the first game en route to becoming the Mules’ all-time RBI leader.
52.1
Points per game allowed by the women’s basketball
team in 2005-06. Two years after leading the
country in scoring offense, the Mules tried a different
approach that led them to a 26-3 record and the
Centennial Conference championship. The 52.1
points per game allowed were a school-record low
for the shot-clock era and ranked 18th in Division III.
Kristen Piscadlo spearheaded both the defense
(team-leading 55 steals) and the offense (schoolrecord 164 assists).
51
Career point total for Evan Smallwood (200003), the men’s soccer player of the decade.
With 17 goals and 17 assists, Smallwood is one
of only two Mules in the last 20 years to record 15
of each.
In his senior season, Smallwood led Muhlenberg
with 31 points and earned All-America secondteam honors. He scored the game-winning goal
on a free kick in the Centennial Conference
championship game vs. Johns Hopkins. In the
NCAA first-round game vs. Gordon, he tied the
score at 2-2 by converting a penalty kick with five
minutes left in regulation, then knocked in another
PK to win the shootout.
51
Length of game-winning touchdown pass on
a fake punt to beat William Paterson in
2006. The pass, from Ryan Sassaman to
Matt Johnson, came with 9:12 left in the
fourth quarter and the score tied at 17.
Fake punts were a common theme for the
Mules throughout the decade; Sassaman
threw a 74-yard TD pass with 3:54 left to
beat Ursinus, 21-14, in 2005.
Johnson’s number also came up frequently.
He was a third-team All-American at tight
end in 2007 and also started at running back
and quarterback, ending his career with a
rare combination of more than 1,000 yards
receiving (1,059), 750 yards rushing (752)
and 750 yards passing (875).
In Memoriam
As we wrap up the first half of our review of the best of the
decade, let’s stop to remember some people associated with
Muhlenberg athletics who we lost during the last 10 years:
• Tom Grace, equipment manager
• Wilson Hendricks, longtime equipment room employee
• Helene Hospodar, Hall-of-Fame field hockey coach
• Edward Renner, longtime supporter of Mule teams
• Jason Rute ’96, assistant wrestling coach
• Milton W. “Scotty” Wood, Muhlenberg athletics benefactor