Talk about a daunting task. With just four college games under their belts, the freshmen on the Muhlenberg women’s soccer team were thrown into the fire with a game against the No. 1 team in the country, Messiah.

Touhey

And while last night’s result may not have been what the Mules had hoped for, it was an eye-opening experience for freshman Colleen Touhey, who has started all five games of her college career.

“It was such a faster pace,” she said. “Everyone is at a higher level; there’s no break for you. Every mistake you make is capitalized on, so you have to be sure with the ball at all times.”

Touhey’s classmate, Audrey Zamchiow, agreed that the tempo was a major step, or two or three, up from her high school games. But she also felt like the upperclassmen helped get the team ready as best as they could.

“It was a lot more intense, but the older girls really helped me adjust and prepare for what this game would be like,” Zamichow said. “I could still definitely tell the big difference compared to playing in high school, but I think it would have been a lot more shocking if they hadn’t helped us.”

Zamichow

The main thing both Touhey and Zamichow took away from playing the three-time national champion Falcons was a game plan for what the Mules need to do to be successful.

Touhey said the team has been working on playing faster, but playing against the No. 1 team in Division III showed her just how important it is to avoid and limit mistakes.

She was still very optimistic in spite of the loss, and said she feels the team can only grow better after facing such quality competition.

“Playing a game like this, although we lost, is good because we see what we need to do if we want to become a really good team,” she said. “There are so many things we can learn from this game, and now we have all season to make it happen.”