If the first two games of the year are any indication, then the Emmaus field hockey team will be having a very good season.

Beating Allen and Dieruff by a combined score of 17-0 is a nice way to start the season, even though neither is considered a field hockey powerhouse.

The latest win, a 12-0 pounding of the Huskies, may have been just the type of victory that coach Sue Butz-Stavin was looking for from her team. Even though they handled an Allen team that came into the match with Emmaus at 2-0, the veteran coach wasn't seeing something important from her team.

"We're just a bunch of nice girls playing some hockey out there. We've got to get some swagger in our step," said Butz-Stavin after the 5-0 win over Allen.

That swagger appeared to be a little more evident in the win over Dieruff. Not only did the Lady Hornets come out on top in the game, they outshot the Huskies 20-0 and held a 12-1 advantage in penalty corners. The defensive play made things easy for starting goalie Mahkeila MacDonald, who gave way to Tori Laczo later in the game.

The team played well in two scrimmage games, but Butz-Stavin knows that you can't always tell a lot about your team until the season officially begins. In the win over Allen, Butz-Stavin noted that even though Allen was 2-0, they didn't play with a lot of intensity against the Hornets.

The lack of intensity on the part of their opponents could be one reason why Emmaus lacked swagger, in essence playing down to the level of their opponents. That's not a normal part of Emmaus field hockey teams, and Butz-Stavin is looking to see more intensity, which should also increase the team's acceleration and ball speed another area of concern in the early going.

"For the most part, we've got it," said Butz-Stavin. "We've just got to do things at an accelerated pace. We hang onto the ball too long and don't have enough ball speed."

Emmaus lost eight players from last season's team that went 25-1, winning both the Lehigh Valley Conference and District 11 titles before bowing out in the semifinals of the PIAA tournament. The graduation losses included all three of the team's top scorers, leaving the scoring duties to senior Ashley Focht and junior Krissy Mikelson. The two don't seem too overwhelmed with their new status, and have combined to score seven of the 17 goals that the Hornets have scored.

"I never really look at that. I look at that there is always someone to fill somebody's shoes," said Butz-Stavin. "I look at what we did in summer league; our seniors [and] juniors finished one-two. They went to Old Dominion. They went to Keystone Games and came home with the gold, so they can play with the best."

As the schedule gets tougher Nazareth and Whitehall come into Memorial Field this week the Lady Hornets will need to improve on the things that have been lacking early on. The time for lacking intensity will be over as Emmaus looks to take its ninth straight LVC crown and their 25th straight district championship.

Butz-Stavin has been through 36 other field hockey seasons at the helm of the Hornets and isn't panicking over what she has seen early on.

"I'd rather have that lack of intensity now, rather than late in the season," she said.