It didn't take the Emmaus field hockey team long to bounce back after seeing their long win streak snapped against Liberty. Unfortunately for Bethlehem Catholic and Freedom, the Lady Hornets took their frustrations out against those two teams for the loss to Liberty, beating the Golden Hawks 11-0 and the Patriots 9-0.

Coach Sue Butz-Stavin said that her team got careless in the loss to Liberty, losing a key defender because of a yellow card and not stopping Liberty's penetration into the Emmaus zone. For their part, the players realize that they had become complacent and that contributed to the loss to Liberty. Since that loss, Emmaus went on to win three games in four days, the last of which came against fellow powerhouse Penn Manor on Saturday.

The Comets came into their meeting with Emmaus ranked second in Pennsylvania and were beaten by the Hornets 2-1 in Millersville. The streak helped ease the pain of the loss to Liberty, but the players haven't forgotten an important lesson that they learned thanks to the Hurricane.

"I think we expected to come in and win and we can't really have that kind of attitude. We have to come in thinking we're on an even playing field with the other team and not just expect that we're going to win," said Teresa Carotenuto, who has made her mark on the team even though she's still only a sophomore.

Carotenuto is fitting right in with the high-powered offense this season with scoring four goals in a game four times and three goals in one other contest, scoring a total of 20 goals for Emmaus in just her sophomore season.

"Coming into the season, I was just thinking of getting in with the team and work hard," said Carotenuto of her success. "Our team works really hard together, so anything that I do comes from the team, because we all work together and bring it all in together."

There may be a little more pressure on Carotenuto for the rest of the season, since senior Ashley Focht went down with a torn ACL against Easton and she'll be sidelined for the rest of the season. The senior and the sophomore were splitting part of their time on the field, so Carotenuto will be seeing even more time in key spots from here on out.

"Carotenuto is a very determined young player who has strong hands," said Butz-Stavin, who cautioned that as a sophomore, Carotenuto is still learning her position and will likely become a better player than she is now. "She needs to keep things very simple inside the red zone to be effective. She's still a work in progress."

The win over Penn Manor will serve as a good tune-up for Emmaus' match at Northampton, facing a Konkrete Kids team that is 12-0 overall, and 10-0 in the LVC. After that showdown, the Hornets have conference games this week against struggling Allen and Dieruff teams, wrapped around a trip to play Owen J. Roberts on Saturday.

Butz-Stavin is happy overall with her team's play, but keeps cautioning against taking any team too lightly.

"We need to stay disciplined every second and take pride in eliminating penetration," said Butz-Stavin. "We need desire and intensity throughout a game."