SWARTHMORE, Pa.—Ryan Meuth and Michael Nafziger scored first-half goals to lift Swarthmore College Men's Soccer past the defending conference champion Muhlenberg College Mules 2-0 on a rainy Wednesday night.

The Garnet (4-6) snapped a four-game skid with the win and picked up their first conference victory of the season. Garnet head coach Eric Wagner noted after the game that earning the conference win helps the team's mindset moving forward. "We started to lose a little bit of confidence with some of the results we've been getting," he said. "The win helps us really feel the reward of all that hard work; it makes us feel a little bit more confident going into our next game."

Swarthmore recorded its third clean sheet of the year with this one being a combined effort between the posts by freshman Michael Thut and senior Tyler Zon. Thut, who made the start, left the game in the 21st minute after a collision in the box on a dangerous Muhlenberg restart. Muhlenberg put the ball in the net on the play, but the goal was negated because Thut was fouled by a Mules' attacker. Zon entered the game and recorded four saves to secure the win and the shutout.

Coach Wagner praised the defense as a whole, noting the discipline they played with. "Pressure on the ball was a very important part of the game for us tonight," he said. "[The Mules] didn't really have a lot of time on the ball when they did win it. The few serves they were able to get off before we pressured them were typically well-managed by our back four."

The Garnet, who out-shot Muhlenberg 21-7, finished two highlight-reel goals in near succession late in the first half. Coach Wagner noted that they felt they could win tonight's game with grit, unity and on-field leadership and that they didn't need to do anything spectacular. But spectacular they got, in the form of the two goals scored. Meuth, a tall center back, scored the game's first goal in the 40th minute, showed his flexibility by volleying a high-bouncing ball in the box into the upper-left corner of the goal. Meuth leads the Garnet with three goals scored this season.

Nafziger followed up with an impressive goal less than two minutes later. He ripped a low one-timed shot from just outside the 18 and blazed it past the keeper.

The 2-0 lead proved to be all that the Garnet needed as they held off the Mules the rest of the way. Swarthmore looks to make it two games in a row when it travels to Ursinus on Saturday at noon.

Check back for highlights Thursday morning.