The bitter-cold rain poured down on the women's soccer team Saturday night, paralleling the mood of the Blue Jays as they were upset by the Muhlenberg Mules.
The 2-0 loss breaks both their 24-game winning streak at home and their 23-game regular season conference winning streak.
The ninth-ranked Jays move to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in the conference.
Hindering the Jays was the loss of senior goalkeeper and former News-Letter Athlete of the Week Karen Guszkowski to a broken finger. Guszkowski was replaced by sophomore Kristen Redsun.
The first half of the game was deadlocked 0-0 as the Jays found themselves facing a tougher opponent than they expected. Still outshooting the Mules in the first half by three shots, the possession was mostly even and neither team could find a break. It was clear that getting one past Muhlenberg goalie Michele Toher was going to take something quite special.
According to sophomore forward Leslie O'Brien, the Jays did not play a poor game but just came up short.
"I don't think we played badly, we just didn't capitalize on our opportunities," O'Brien said. "In the beginning we played well. We passed around them but we just couldn't put the ball in the net."
After half time, Muhlenberg's offense stepped up their game to score twice and defeat the Jays. The Mules defense allowed several shots on goal but their goalie, Toher, made some incredible saves to keep her clean sheet.
Even when senior Caitlin Moore fired one that had 'goal' written all over it, the Hopkins fans were forced to sit back down as Toher and the rest of the Mules defense kept the Jays from scoring.
Early on in the second half, the Mules found a hole in the Jays's defense and lofted one into the goal just past the gloves of Redsun. Muhlenberg's Kimberly Hacker scored the goal from about 20 yards out on the 55th minute of the game to put the Jays behind by one.
The Jays then made a few good plays to pressure Muhlenberg's defense. The hope for a game-tying goal was high as some plays seemed promising but Hopkins just came up empty-handed every time.
The reality sunk in that the Jays were going to have to come back from behind if they were going to prevail this weekend. "Once they scored we picked up the intensity, but we ended up playing a little frantic," O'Brien said.
The Jays, in an effort to tie it up again, played a bit too edgily and consequently let up another goal that sealed the deal for the Mules. The Muhlenberg strikers found holes in the Jays's defense that were not there earlier in the game.
On a quick break to elude Hopkins defenders, Muhlenberg's Christina O'Grady found herself with space to play and fired one into the top left corner of the net in the 81st minute to put the Mules up 2-0 and wrap up the match.
When the game ended, Muhlenburg celebrated their win over the heavily favored Jays with cheers that could be heard across campus. With the win, the Mules improved to an 8-5 record overall and 5-1 in the conference.
The Jays have three more games before the Centennial Conference tournament and the team outlook is positive as they move on to conclude the regular season and begin post-season play.
"We all felt that we were the better team but we were just unlucky," Suter said about the loss. But Suter and the rest of the Jays are confident that despite a minor setback with the loss to the Mules, the Jays will fight on to play to their potential.
"I think we can grow from this game and it won't affect our winning attitude. We are expected to win every game in our conference and this loss shows that not every team is perfect," Suter said. The Jays, still the favorites in the Centennial Conference, move on to play the Bryn Mawr Owls at home this Saturday.
