The Mules have won five in a row, outscoring their opponents 20-1. The one goal allowed came in the

Sophomore Jose Ramirez has five goals in the last three games.

final minute against Johns Hopkins, after a turnover at midfield led to a breakaway. That snapped the team’s streak of four consecutive shutout wins – the longest since 1995, when three of the shutouts came in the NCAA Tournament. The last time the Mules opened a season by giving up only one goal in the first six games was 1990.

On offense, Muhlenberg has scored at least three goals in four consecutive games for the first time since 1999. The Mules have already reached the three-goal mark more times this year (five) than they did all of last season (four).

Saturday’s 3-1 win snapped No. 8 Johns Hopkins’ record Centennial Conference regular-season winning streak at 29. In 1999, Muhlenberg broke the third-ranked Blue Jays’ 18-match CC unbeaten streak.

The Mules have a chance to make a big move when the new Mid-Atlantic Region rankings come out on Monday, since the top four teams in the region all lost during the week. Drew (No. 1) lost to Elizabethtown and tied Wilkes, Hopkins (No. 2) lost to Muhlenberg, Messiah (No. 3) lost to Stevens Tech and Eastern (No. 4) fell to Salisbury.

Muhlenberg welcomes defending national champion Messiah for yet another showdown on Wednesday.

It was a bittersweet weekend for the Muhlenberg field hockey program.

On Saturday, the 10th-ranked Mules scored one of their biggest wins ever, edging No. 9 Montclair State, 3-2. That came one day after the program’s winningest coach, Helene Hospodar, passed away at age 74.

Hospodar, known simply as “H,” was head coach of the Muhlenberg field hockey team from 1976 to 1990, compiling a record of 109-59-17 (.635) and earning rankings in the national top 10 numerous times. From 1980 to 1990, the Mules made five appearances in the Middle Atlantic Conference playoffs, winning the championship in 1989. That team received a bid to the NCAA Tournament, the only one in the program’s history.

Hospodar’s final team, in 1990, won its first 14 games – a start that the current team is halfway to.

One of the true pioneers of women’s athletics at Muhlenberg, Hospodar began her career at the College in 1962, just five years after the start of coeducation. She also coached basketball, softball and lacrosse and was advisor to the cheerleaders before retiring in 1997.

“I’m proud of the fact that our girls have done well academically as well as athletically,” she said in 1994. “I’m very happy with the way the program has evolved.”

She would be very happy that the 2003 field hockey team is carrying on the tradition.